How Pinkie Pie met Rainbow Dash
by ParanormalPinkie
Summary: How the cyan mare and the bouncy pink pony met in the magical land of Equestria.
1. Chapter 1

"Recall it as often as you want, a happy memory never wears out."

Chapter 1

Beginning with a Bang!

_It was a bright and all around wonderifical day in the busy and bustling city of Manehattan. The clouds above hovered over the city like a super cozy blanket, protecting the inhabitants from the hot and often scorching raze of that rather bothersome sun overhead. Everypony was going about their business happily; everypony except for a certain lazy and very bored rainbow-maned Pegasus pony that is. _

Rainbow Dash wandered down the streets of Manehattan aimlessly; her multi-colored mane swaying back and forth. She felt it rather odd when her hair was relaxed against her head; she was more accustomed to having it flowing behind her and out of her eyes, but the city was so packed with buildings and annoying obstacles that she had no choice but to walk – something Dash hated to do. She barely looked up from the ground to see who was coming and going in front of her, almost hitting a colt walking the other way in the process. Boredom was setting upon her as she saw the ponies of the city either walking everywhere dully or pulling carriages with other ponies inside them, looking even dullier still.

"Progress, huh?" She mumbled to herself. Rainbow Dash had come here looking for an exciting vacation away from all the tedious cloud clearing she had been doing in Cloudsdale, but now she regretted that decision. She would take her cloud clearing job over mind-numbing boredom any day.

She watched a group of ponies roll past in a carriage, being pulled along by two stallions. _So boring, _Dash thought to herself. _What's the point in sitting around in carriages all day when you could be having some actual fun around here? _The sight of the pony's uptight noses in the air made her sick. _Why is everypony so boring? _

_The ponies of this city are aristocratic fancy pants types: no time for play, workaholic, big boredy bored pants ponies to be exact. Manehattan was a city with so many dumb and complicated rules that all you are allowed to be was sad and un-fun all the time. And the only way you could throw a party was if you promised that it was for business and not at all fun in any possible way. _

It was noon by now and Dash kept walking along with her head in the clouds, thinking of what she could be doing back in the cloud city right now. _Doesn't anypony here pull pranks? I wonder what they would say to a sudden overcast downpour. _She chuckled at the thought of wet, stuck up ponies running for cover. _Well it'd sure be funny to watch, but it would remind me too much of the work in Cloudsdale. _She heaved a giganterific sigh as she wandered past a collection of stores and in front of a lavender coloured hair care salon. _I thought at least somepony would have a bounce in their step in a town like– _

"Ooph!" Rainbow Dash fell backwards, landing on her rump. She shook her head and stood up angrily. "Hey, watch where you're going… you– huh?"

Dash looked down at the pony that had run into her. Her coat was a dull pink and her mane was a faded Magenta hew. It hung straight and limp in her face, blocking Rainbow from actually seeing her expression, but she could hear sniffs and whimpers coming from the pink pony. She looked up at Dash with her watery blue eyes; her heart sank. _Is she… crying? _

The pink pony rubbed a hoof over her face to wipe off the tears. "S-Sorry." She managed in between sniffs.

The anger Dash felt towards the pony had disappeared and was replaced with confusion and concern. "Hey, are you okay?" She walked closer to the crying pony to hear her answer more clearly.

The pink pony only sniffed and looked down at the floor with more wet tears staining her cheeks.

_Hmm, too sad to talk huh? _The Pegasus pony smirked as an idea struck her. _We'll see about that. _"My name's Dash. Rainbow Dash! What's yours?" She asked striking her signature pose, trying to get the sad pony to forget whatever it was that upset her.

The pony seated on the ground looked up warily and saw the seemingly comical pose Dash made. Quiet and still somewhat troubled giggles escaped through the sobs and she wiped the final tears away with a hoof. "P-Pinkie Pie." The pony answered shakily.

Dash stood back up normally and tilted her head at the pony's strange name. _Hmm, I guess the name was kinda obvious. _She thought to herself. She was happy that Pinkie Pie wasn't crying anymore; if she could wrap it up now she could get to flying outside of town for a few hours. _Yeah, maybe that'll cheer me up. _

"Well, Pinkie Pie I like your hair. It seems so manageable… not like mine." Rainbow Dash blew a piece of hair that had fallen down into her eyes away, but it just fell back into the same place. Dash groaned.

Pinkie Pie looked up and saw the rainbow-maned Pegasus' struggles. She giggled a little. "Really? You do?" The pink pony asked. Pinkie's hair bounced up into a few curls and her mane brightened a bit.

_Dash, you're a genius. _Smiling proudly, she sat down and nodded. "Mm hmm, I wish I had your hair. It wouldn't get in my eyes while I was flying." Rainbow Dash answered while brushing more of her mane out of the way; the more she talked about flying the more she wanted to finish up and get to it, but the pink pony's pleading eyes kept pulling her away from her reverie of a quick flight.

Pinkie jumped up as her mane and tail exploded with super bright pink curls, she started bouncing up and down around Dash happily. The rainbow-maned Pegasus' eyes followed the bouncing pony as she hopped around in a circle, her eyes widening at the sudden explosion of colour on top of the pink pony's head. _Where– How did– Her mane… it's… puffy. How– _

"Well, I like your hair." The thoughts soaring through Dash's mind were quickly grounded by Pinkie's unpredicted response. She stared more intently at the pony as if to say, _Huh? _"There's sooo many colors. There's blue and green and red and orange and yellow and purple-" She stopped bouncing and put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Or is it violet? Hmm…" She looked to be in thought and then looked back at Dash with a smile. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

"I know. You already said that." Rainbow Dash replied with some minor confusion.

Pinkie's head tilted to the right, quizzically. Her pink curly mane did the same. "I did? Oh."

"Do… do you really like my hair?" Dash asked with a confused expression spread across her face. Nopony had ever complimented her mane before. "I always thought it made me look weird. I mean, what kinda pony would want a mane like this?" She questioned, grabbing a hoof full of rainbow-coloured hair and gesturing to it.

Pinkie sat down in front of Dash with her head tilted slightly to the side, her curly mane and tail following soon after. "I would. You look super pretty with all those colours in one hair style," Pinkie Pie replied with closed blue eyes and a bright smile on her face.

Rainbow Dash looked embarrassed and tilted her head to the side. _Pretty? Me? No way. _She forced the growing heat off her cheeks and turned back to face the pink pony.

Pinkie continued rambling with a hoof to her chin. "Although, I'm not sure what kind of shampoo you would use for that hair; especially with all those different colours… It would be a total mess."

A silence came over the two and Pinkie and Dash just stared at each other. The rainbow-maned Pegasus decided that it was time to get to the bottom of this. _Why was she sad? Why was she crying? And how did her mane suddenly get so bouncy? _All of these thoughts zoomed and rainboomed through her head as she came to focus on figuring out what made this bouncy ball of fluff of a pony so un-bouncy.

"Pinkie? Why were you crying before?"

Pinkie Pie's gaze slipped to her hooves as her smile dropped, being replaced by a look of sadness. She moved some dirt along the ground in a circle as she looked down to the floor. "Oh, well… I was trying to get some shampoo *sniff* for curly hair… from this hair salon." She answered slowly as she pointed to the store she had just come from.

The pink pony suddenly looked apprehensive to continue with her story, so Dash became a tad impatient. "… And?" Rainbow asked, looking a little confused and annoyed at the pony's hesitation to explain why going to a hair salon could possibly make a pony sad at all… not that she'd ever bothered going to one. _For all I know they could be torturing ponies with overly expensive and extremely unnecessary hair care products in there. _She chuckled to herself at the unintentional humour in that thought.

The Earth pony gulped trying to hold back her tears, but they kept coming. "Well *sniff*… as soon as they saw me *sniff* they said my hair looked horrible *sniff* and I was hurting pony's eyes… by coming out in public with these *sniff* pink curls and… and-" Tears ran freely from her pink face and she couldn't bring herself to look at Dash. Pinkie rubbed her reddened, teary eyes again.

As she stared at the deflating pony again, Rainbow's expression changed from concern to anger; she had heard enough. "Wait here." Dash interrupted her and walked slowly into the salon. Suddenly, Pinkie heard crashing noises and girls screaming from inside. She could make out Dash's voice amongst the noises. "THIS is for making fun of PINKIE Pie! You should be HAPPY that she CAME here... and you should be GREATFUL that she allowed you to even SEE her pink hair!" It was silent inside the store for a while except for the shuffling of hooves. After a minute Rainbow Dash walked back out with the same style she walked in with, but she sat down and started rubbing her hooves angrily.

A tear ran down Pinkie's left cheek and dropped to the floor. "What *sniff* was that about?"

"I just had some… business to take care of." She looked back into the store as she rubbed her knuckles. Then she looked at Pinkie, smirking. "Hey, what kind of shampoo do you usually get? Wave Behave or Crazy Curls?" She asked holding up two different shampoo products.

"Did you take those from the salon Dash?" She asked quizzically, wiping away the rest of her tears. Rainbow Dash started to whistle and looked to the side guiltily. "Dash." Pinkie Pie looked at her and chuckled with a smirk of her own, lightly hopping onto her face.

Dash started to giggle and turned her head back to face Pinkie with her rose-coloured eyes shut, but she was swiftly bounced to the ground by a pink blur. "Ooph!"

Pinkie hugged her tightly as Dash struggled to breathe through her surprisingly strong hold. "Oh, thank you, Rainbow Dash! Thank you!" After a few seconds of hugging she let go and hopped off, allowing the rainbow-maned Pegasus to regain her composure.

When she was up again, she took one more glance at the Earth pony and started walking away. She had had an idea. "Come on, Pinkie." She called back for her to follow.

"Where are we going?" Pinkie asked as she caught up and bounced joyfully around Dash.

"We're gonna have some fun!" Rainbow Dash replied as her eyes followed the pink filly, who continued to hop around.

"Ooh, I love to have fun; it's my favourite thing to do and when other ponies are having fun that makes me happier than I could be when I'm having fun all by my pony self. And I love to be happy and I love to make other ponies happy even more, 'cause it's fun to make ponies happy, which makes me happy and being happy and fun and funny is what I'm all about." Rainbow Dash's mind was mush. It took her a few seconds before she realised Pinkie Pie had stopped talking and was smiling at her. She shook her head to focus on the pony in front of her. "So, what are we gonna do? Are we gonna pull some pranks or have a party? Ooh, I love parties 'cause that's where most of the fun and happiness comes from and I love to have fun and mm mmm! Mm mmm!" Rainbow Dash had placed a hoof over the pink pony's mouth.

"I know. You said that." Dash replied with another smirk. She removed her hoof and stepped closer to Pinkie.

"I did?" Asked Pinkie with the same look of confusion she had on the first time Rainbow Dash said that.

"Yep. Hop on!" Dash yelled as she took a dramatic pose.

"Hop what?" Pinkie asked, looking even more confused.

"Hop on." Dash repeated more quietly, pointing to her back. Pinkie gave her a questioning look and tilted her head to the side. "Something wrong-? Ooph!"

Pinkie jumped onto Rainbow Dash's back. "Nopey dopey! I just wanted to make sure you meant your back and not your head." Pinkie placed both hooves over her mouth and tried to hold back giggles. "Could you believe it if I thought you meant your head instead? That would have been embarrassing! Then you wouldn't be able to see anything ha ha ha!"

_Embarrassing is right. _She thought to herself.

"Pinkie Pie, you're with the Dash now. And when you're with the Dash, you'd better hang ON!" Rainbow Dash kicked off quickly and zoomed into the air with a burst of speed that took most of Pinkie's breath away, but just enough of it remained for her to say:

"Wooohooooo!"

_For the rest of the super-duper beautifully sunny day, Rainbow Dash flew around doing tricks – either with the pink pony on her back or following down below – and together they pulled a whole buncha pranks on those silly residents of Manehattan. Replacing its residents' ink supply with invisible ink; causing the shady clouds hanging over the city to rain down on the unsuspecting ponies; brightening up the dull houses with pink and green and blue and violet and yellow and orange and red, and many other hilarious pranks. At the end of the day Rainbow Dash and her pink friend walked along the empty streets, still laughing their heads off on another terrifically successful prank. _

"Did you see that guys face? Priceless. Priceless!" Dash snickered, but then she lowered her head.

Pinkie didn't seem to notice; she answered the pony's question with some giggles and chuckles of her own. "I sure did. He was a real fast runner; even when we started to fly away from him, he still ran after us. What do you think he would have done with that broom if he caught up to us?" The pink pony turned her head to face Dash when she didn't reply. "Dash?"

Dash slowed down and Pinkie Pie followed soon after to look back at the Pegasus pony. "Phew. I'm tired after all that pranking and flying." She spoke with her head low to the ground.

Pinkie started bouncing higher when she saw Dash struggling to keep pace with her. "Maybe you should eat some candy. That's how I get my bounciness and Pinkie energy." She offered with a wide smile.

"Hmm, you don't say." Dash said, smirking across at Pinkie Pie. She picked her head up and quickened her stride, bouncing the troubled thoughts out of Pinkie's joyful mind.  
Pinkie's smile then faded and her expression became serious; she stopped leaping about and matched the Pegasus' pace. She looked thoughtfully at Rainbow Dash and managed a tender smile. "Thanks for cheering me up Dash."

"No sweat. It was a lot of fun… pranking all of those uptight ponies." She responded, still chuckling to herself.

"Not just for pulling pranks with me… for cheering me up after those ponies at the salon. I've never, ever, ever been more sad in my entire life than when they made fun of me. But you, a pony I didn't even know, came from outta nowhere and helped me to laugh again. Thank you, Rainbow Dash." Her eyes were filled with happy tears as she stared at the rainbow-maned pony.

"It-" Rainbow Dash noticed the pink ponies' eyes welling up and looked away nervously. "Really, it was my pleasure. Those ponies deserved it and more." Dash replied with a slightly angry tone of voice at remembering. She turned her head back to the Earth pony to meet her teary eyes. "Anyway, today was a lot of fun Pinkie. I can't wait to hang out some more."

"Hang out?" The pink pony suddenly seemed out of breath and just stared into Dash's beautiful rose-coloured eyes, eagerly waiting for a response.

Dash lifted off, her wings flapping to keep her aloft while she looked down at Pinkie's concerned face. "Yeah, how 'bout tomorrow? We could pull some more pranks on these totally unfun ponies-"

"T-tomorrow? What do you- what do you mean?" She leaned in closer to Rainbow, her huge blue eyes still glistening and pleading, as if hearing her answer was the most importantly portant thing in all of Equestria.

Dash smiled kindly, unfazed by the pink pony. She landed beside the Earth pony and smiled slyly, keeping pace with Pinkie. "Well, I had so much fun with my new best friend I thought I'd like to keep having fun with her." She sighed and looked around at the other ponies on the streets. Then she turned her head back to the abso-tively befuddled pony before her. "Nopony around here seems to have a funny bone in their boring-as-hay bodies and you seem to be the only pony with the slightest bit of fun in her. And let me tell you, you're bursting with tons of fun Pinkie."

"So, I… I'm your friend?" She asked with hope in her voice and her attention set firmly on the Pegasus pony.

As if just noticing her new friend's beautifully blue eyes pleading for an answer, she looked seriously at her. "Of course you are, Pinks. Why wouldn't I be?"

She pushed around some stray dirt on the floor; she seemed to be having trouble coming up with any words, something very bizarre for the pink pony. "Because I'm too energetic… b-b-because I'm weird and I bounce around everywhere like a crazy pony… and I smile all the time and I'm just too h-happy and cheerful to be around and-"

"Pinkie?" That was not the kind of response Dash had been expecting at all; which made her think of something awful. "Pinkie… don't you have other friends?" The Pegasus pony stopped and looked at the pink pony walking ahead; regret of asking such a question flew into Dash's heart, causing it to beat more quickly at the fear of actually getting a reply.

Pinkie came to a stop a few hooves ahead of Dash and said nothing. The two ponies stood in silence; the Pegasus pony's heart raced in concern for her friend until the pink pony quietly broke the uncomfortable silence between them. "… No." Pinkie's head tilted to the side to glance back at her friend with those sad blue eyes again.

The Earth pony's smoothly spoken answer brought Dash's feathery fear quickly down to reality. Her mouth felt dry; no words managed to escape her lips. The rainbow-maned pony thought of the impossibility of her friend's answer. _No. Pinkie… how can you not have any friends? Just the thought of Pinkie being without laughter and fun for one second makes me want to– _

"And all those things I just said were excuses made by all the ponies I've ever hung out with." Pinkie continued, regaining her composure; she turned around sadly, interrupting Dash's obviously violent thoughts. Her voice was calm, but the words she spoke held more emotion to the young pony's heart than any kind of voice could tell.

Rainbow walked up and put a comforting hoof on the pony's shoulder as she spoke confidently to Pinkie. "Well that's over. 'Cause you're my best friend and we're gonna hang out tomorrow."

"Really?" Her face lit up and she stared into Rainbow Dash's eyes again.

The Pegasus pony managed a small smile. "Of course, Pinks."

Pinkie's lip trembled slightly and suddenly broke down and started crying again, covering her head with her hooves.

_Oh no. _Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she cringed and looked down at Pinkie. _What did I do? Doesn't she like the nickname I gave her? What about me being her friend? Doesn't she even know who I– _

Rainbow stopped and listened with one eye opened. _Is she laughing? _

Pinkie erupted off the floor, laughing and giggling and began hopping around Dash. "I have a friend, I have a friend, I have a friend! Do you mean it? You're really my bestest best friend?" She bounced in front of Dash and stared deeply into her eyes, as if her eyes were posi-lutely bouncing with the answer she needed. Then Pinkie gasped with realization. "You do! You're my bestest best friend too, Dashie!"

"Dashie?" The Pegasus pony asked with a raised eyebrow directed at the pink pony.

Pinkie Pie smiled back kindly at her new bestest best friend as she replied. "Yeah, well your name's Rainbow Dash and my name's Pinkie Pie and Dashie rhymes with Pinkie so I thought it would be a good name for you to be called by me instead of Rainbow Dash a whole bunch. You must get pretty bored of being called by your full name all the time so I thought you'd like a cool nickname. In fact my name is short for Pinkamena Diane Pie, but then I thought 'that's an awful lot for ponies to say all the time', so I decided on just Pinkie Pie instead to save more time for having fun. So what d'ya say, Dashie?" Her smile had become a rather large grin by the end of her very long explanation of what the name Dashie was for.

"Well y-yes… sure, but haven't you ever had other friends?" Rainbow Dash asked, quite confused now. _Dashie? It sounds kinda cool. _

Pinkie spoke thoughtfully as if remembering all of the times she tried to unsuccessfully make friends. "No. Ponies don't really like me. They think I'm too excitable, so they avoid me. The last pony I tried to befriend must have heard of my hyper-actively fun pranks from the other ponies. I was really well and truly just asking him for the time, honest." She shrugged.

"What happened after that?" Dash enquired with a curious tilt of her head.

"He ran behind that barrel over there. Hi Paul!" She waved joyfully at the barrel with the pony hiding and shaking behind it.

The two ponies were silent for a few moments, staring at the pony behind the barrel; Pinkie seemed quite content to smile and wave at the other residents of Manehattan, while the Pegasus pony looked from the Earth pony to the pony behind the barrel and back to Pinkie Pie.

A smile graced Dash's face. She dropped her useless attempts at comprehending the impossibly bizarre relationship Pinkie must have had with the residents of the city to make them seek shelter behind a small barrel and sighed. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore 'cause you're hangin' with me now." She saw Pinkie's smile brighten and her mane burst forth with maximum puffage. Dash lowered her head and groaned warily. "But I can barely walk after all the pranks we pulled and all the flying I had to do to get us both outta trouble."

Pinkie bounced in place in front of Rainbow Dash. "Do what I said before; eating some sweets always cheers me up after a long day of pranking." Pinkie gasped. "You should definitely do that!" She leaned in close to Rainbow Dash with her wide, beautiful blue eyes. "Ooh, we need to find a sweets shop around here!"

The sudden closeness of Pinkie's bright face and pleading eyes gazing profoundly into Dash's rose-coloured ones made her feel uncomfortable; she smiled back nervously. Staring into her eyes the Pegasus pony fell into a kind of trance; her wings spread wide without her permission. The two held this position for a while until Dash shook her head to escape the little pony's stare. "You know that's not a bad idea, Pinkie." She sat down and put a hoof to her chin. She smirked and stood up nose to nose with her new friend. "In fact, I challenge you to a candy eating contest tomorrow. We'll just see who the best candy eater is."

Pinkie smiled joyfully back at the Pegasus. "Okie dokey lokie!" She dropped her intense gaze and started to look around happily.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and looked down with a soft sigh. _What was that? I couldn't look away. _She opened her eyes and noticed her outspread wings. _When did my wings unfurl? _She asked herself confusedly.

The pink pony continued talking as she glanced back at Dash. "But first I need to figure out where we are."

She folded up her wings carefully and raised an eyebrow again. "What? Why we're right–" She stopped and looked around, quickly realizing that she had no idea where they were. "–here."

"Oh Rainbow Dash! I know we're right here, but the question is: where is here?" She sat down on her rump in thought. A sudden realisation hit her Pinkie Pie brain; she had figured it out. "We must've gone through a wormhole or something. Oh, I knew I should've brought my towel."

"Don't worry Pinks; I'll just fly up and– huh?" Rainbow Dash suddenly became 20% more confused at Pinkie Pie's statement and turned her head to look at her suspiciously.

The pink pony looked at her Pegasus friend with an expression that seemed to scream 'everypony should know about that'. "A wormhole. You know, sort of like time travel."

Dash sat down and waved her hoof back and forth. "No not that, but I don't quite understand that either." She scratched the back of her neck and tried to make sense of what Pinkie said, but all that she managed was:

"Pinkie Pie, you are so random."

She kept staring at her friend with the same confused look on her face, but this time she had a wide grin on her face.

Pinkie giggled at the newly created catch phrase. "Oh, you mean about the towel?" Dash nodded, speechless. "It's the most valuable thing you can have when travelling through space. I thought everypony knew that."

"… Okay. Well that 'answer' just brought up more questions, so I'm just gonna see where we are. Wait here." She pushed off the ground and flew up to look out over the towering buildings of Manehattan and attempted to figure out where they had found themselves.

On the ground, Pinkie smiled broadly and bounced up and down as she watched the Pegasus reach the tops of the skyscrapers and look around to find any sense of direction. However, Pinkie noticed that something was off about her friends flying this time. She stopped bouncing and tilted her head to the side in thought. _Hmm. When I flew with Dashie before she seemed perfectly fine; she had no trouble soaring through the air, but now she looks like she's eaten a million cupcakes all at once. And that's a whole lot to eat in one sitting. I hope she's okay. _A sudden, terrible thought tumbled into her Pinkie-mind; she gasped with both hooves covering her muzzle to muffle the sound. She shook the thought from her Pinkie-mind and her pink, curly mane shook with it. _No, she's fine… please be okay. _

After a few quick glances at the darkness that surrounded her, Dash soared back down and landed next to Pinkie. The Earth pony, of course, immediately started bouncing up and down excitedly again.

"Ooh, ooh! What did you see? What did you see?" Pinkie's excitement at seeing her friend again only seemed to grow as she watched Dash for an answer.

Rainbow bowed her head. "I… I don't know where we are. I've never really explored Manehattan; I always flew outta town to practice my flying for the Wonderbolt's, so I only know the place I'm staying at. I don't have a clue."

Pinkie placed a front hoof to her chin in thought while she still bounced in place with the other three. This took Rainbow's attention away from not knowing where they were and put it all on trying to figure out how she actually managed to do that. After giving up on ever coming up with an answer that would satisfy her, she couldn't help but smile at her pink friend's ever strange and happy go-lucky demeanour.

Pinkie gasped suddenly as she came up with something. "I've got an idea, Rainbow Dash. Wait here!" With that she crouched down, wiggled her rump, and bounced all the way up to the top of a rather tall building.

Dash's jaw dropped and yet again her thoughts shifted to another one of Pinkie's strange abilities. She blinked a few times to confirm that she just saw a pink Earth pony jump over 10 stories high. "How did she… do that?"

It was pitch black when she looked out across the city, but with her super sensitive eyes she could see as clear as day. As Pinkie twisted her head around in all directions to pick up exactly where they were, she soon spotted something familiar to her. Her smile brightened even more than it already had been – if that was even possible – and she quickly bounced back down to Dash to deliver the good news.

Before she could say anything, Rainbow Dash rushed over to her; confusion and worry spread across her cyan face. "How did you do that, Pinkie?"

"Do what?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head to the side quizzically.

"'Do what?' You just jumped 10 stories into the air and landed on a building! You coulda been hurt… or worse!" She stared angrily at the pink pony with her rose-coloured eyes for her response.

"Aww, Dashie. Were you worried about me?" A warm smile crossed her face.

Dash immediately dropped her angry gaze and replaced it with a look of embarrassment. "N-No. I was just… concerned. And why can't I be worried about a friend?" Rainbow looked to the side, covering her blush. "After all, if you get hurt there would be nopony here that could keep up with… the Dash." She finished, striking a pose.

Pinkie giggled. "Oh Rainbow Dash, you're so silly." She gasped and jumped up in place, landing with her legs spread out in a play bow and a huge smile on her face. "Dashie, I know where we are."

"Really? Awesome. So where do we have to go?" She asked while looking about the darkened area.

"Follow me!" She sang, hopping off into the dimly lit streets.

"Right behind you–" Rainbow went to follow her, but a sudden intense pain in her body prevented her from walking; instead she dropped to the ground and let out a heated scream. "Augh!"

"Dashie?" Pinkie looked back at her friend and found her on her stomach. Zipping over, she crouched down next to her and stared worriedly into Rainbow's eyes. "Dashie! What happened? Are you hurt?"

"No… I'm f–" Rainbow Dash tried to sit up, but collapsed to the ground from yet another surge of pain. "Urgh!" The pink pony stood up in realisation of the Pegasus pony's agony. "Y-Yeah, I… I think it was from all of the flying and pranking with…" She trailed off when she looked into Pinkie's widened eyes.

"With me." Pinkie glumly finished the rainbow-maned Pegasus' sentence and sat down, hunched over. "This is why I'm not supposed to have friends."

Dash raised her head with some difficulty to stare at the pony for an explanation. "What?"

Pinkie didn't seem to hear her question and kept scolding herself. "Oh, I knew I should have listened to my Pinkie-sense and stayed inside today. None of this would've happened. None of it." She said, staring down at the floor angrily.

Trying to sit up to look into the pink ponies eyes again, Rainbow caught sight of her dulled blue eyes. "What are you talking about, Pinkie?"

As if she just noticed her bestest best friend's questions Pinkie looked back at Dash and gulped. "My Pinkie-sense told me that if I went outside of my house today… somepony close to me would get hurt. But I didn't have any friends… so I thought it would be okay. I only wanted to get something for this messy mane of mine and now I've hurt the only friend I've ever ever had." She looked down as if to start crying. At the image of Pinkie in tears again, Dash felt some of her own coming on.

"Pinkie… it's okay. I'm not hurt bad, it's just a sprain." She put a hoof under Pinkie's chin and lifted it up to look into her big round eyes. "I don't blame you Pinkie. Or your Pinkie-sense – whatever that is. This happens to me a lot."

"R-Really?"

"Of course, don't think a little sprain will do me in..." She tried to sit up again and managed it, but the rest of her ached; she wisely decided:

'To not do that anymore'.

Rainbow Dash had arrived at the conclusion that she wouldn't be able to walk or fly home and attempted to relax her muscles. "For long anyway." She replied with another cringe as she glanced at her shoulder.

Wiping her eyes with a hoof, Pinkie sniffed. "So you don't hate me, Dash?"

Rainbow turned sharply to stare into the pony's eyes. "Why would I ever hate you? Spending time with you today has been the most fun I've had in a long time. You know Pinkie, you're not as annoying as everypony else thinks you are. Not to me."

Rainbow suddenly felt a third surge of pain as Pinkie jumped on her, wrapping her front hooves around the blue Pegasus, and knocking her to the ground in a huge hug for the second time that day. "Oh, I'm sooo happy you still like me Dashie!"

All that was audibly heard from Rainbow Dash as an answer was a reasonably loud:

"Oww!"

Upon hearing this Pinkie let go and Dash was allowed to relax her muscles again. "Oops! Heh heh… sorry." A nervous smile leapt onto her pink face.

Laying her back-legs down carefully so she could face the pink pony beside her, Rainbow groaned in discomfort. "It's okay Pinkie… but– How are we gonna get out of this place now?"

"Oh, that's easy peasy." Pinkie sat down next to her and answered, putting a hoof to her chest. "I can carry you."

"Are you sure?" Rainbow Dash asked uneasily. The pink pony was also a little pony.

"It's only fair. You flew me all over Manehattan today; which must have been real hard, even with your muscles. The least Pinkie can do for you is get you back home." Immediately after she said that, her eyes lit up. "Wait! I've got it! I could see my house from up there; it's just around the corner. I can bring you to my house instead for the night so you can get better faster."

"But–" Dash started, but Pinkie interrupted her.

"No buts Dashie!" She paused to giggle at the word, but then she quickly regained her seriousness and sustained her argument. "I've made up my mind. I'm the one who got you into this mess, so I'm gonna be the pony to make you all better again." A stern look appeared on the pink ponies face. Dash hadn't seen this side of Pinkie yet; it was a side of pure, unwavering determination.

Rainbow Dash didn't have any time to reply as Pinkie slid her head underneath the Pegasus pony's belly, slipping her onto her back to be carried. She started to walk along easily as she finished her serious speech. "I'm also not leaving my bestest best friend Rainbow Dash lying here."

Blushing, she looked at the pink Earth pony from the side. _Whoa, she's stronger than I thought. _"Uhh… thank you, Pinkie."

Pinkie smiled back cheerfully. "No problem, Rainbow Dash." She quickly turned her head to look at the ground, so her bestest best friend couldn't see her own reddened cheeks.

As they walked, Rainbow was having trouble with what she should do. _Where do I put my tail? Where do I put my legs? Where do I put my head? _The Pegasus inwardly gasped as a more important and embarrassing problem struck her:

_Where do I put my rump? _

While she asked herself these questions she was involuntarily squirming on Pinkie's back.  
Pinkie's blush grew and she giggled nervously to herself. "Hey, Rainbow Dash?" She asked with some strain in her voice.

"Yeah Pinks?" Dash answered, half listening and half still struggling to get comfortable.

Holding in more giggles, the Earth pony concentrated on her question. "So, why do you go outta the city to fly around? Isn't Manehattan a good place to just glide in?"

She stopped for a minute to recall her last flight. "Oh, well it's easier to fly out in the open. There's no tall buildings in the way; it's freedom out there Pinkie." Her eyes glazed over at the memory of a good cruise.

Pinkie Pie allowed herself to relax as Dash ceased moving around. "It sounds like a ton of fun."

She smiled kindly. "It is." Rainbow Dash drifted into her seemingly endless reverie; her mind lifted her up into the sky for her to begin soaring effortlessly through the wide blue yonder which she missed sooo much. She was sooo immersed in her dream in fact that she almost forgot she was an injured pony currently seated on a pink pony's back.

Pinkie turned her head down to the ground and whispered to herself. "Maybe I can do that someday."

Breaking out of her daze, Dash started fumbling her hooves around trying to find a comfy position again. "I'm sure you'll get the chance to fly someday, Pinkie." Her head, hooves, and tail tossed and turned every which way except Pinkie's rump and neck, fearing how the pink pony would react to that.

After a few minutes of almost abso-tive silence – excluding the frustrated noises of the rainbow-maned pony failing once again to relax – the pink pony spoke… rather awkwardly to the ground. "Uhm, Rainbow Dash? You can rest your head on my neck if you want."

Dash was silent; her muzzle hung somewhat open. Her wings had again unfurled without her taking notice and heat spread across her face with a ripe red apple tint appearing on her cheeks; she really didn't know what to do now.

Pinkie regretted saying that straightaway and was concerned with how the Pegasus might have taken that offer. "Dashie? Are you okay?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at the injured pony.

"Y-Yeah, thanks Pinkie." She answered and slowly lowered her head to rest on the pony's mane. She had been right from before:

_It really is soft. _

Dash saw her opened wings as she leaned carefully on the pink pony's neck, but she didn't care this time. She was too comfy to worry about anything.

The sudden weight on Pinkie's shoulders told her that Dash's head now rested on her neck, but now she couldn't bring herself to say anything. She just stared at the floor with a small smile on her face as she kept walking through the darkened streets.

The rest of the trip was taken in complete silence. As they walked, Dash became more and more comfortable and Pinkie became more and more nervous. By the time the Earth pony reached her home, Rainbow Dash was completely relaxed in the curly pink mane while Pinkie Pie's whole body was abso-posilutely tense. She hesitated, looking back at the rainbow-maned pony's beautiful face snoozing away on her shoulder, but soon she managed to speak. "Dashie, we're here."

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes blissfully and looked up at the house.

It was a strange home, with a bright shade of pink covering the outside of it. It was a happily cake-like house with swirling pink frosting spiralling up to the roof and all along the sides in colourfully colourful layers. The cake house had a far brighter outside then the other skyscrapers around it; most were a very dull shade of dull grey, yuck!

As her vision began to clear, Rainbow Dash also remembered she had nearly fallen asleep on Pinkie's mane and rapidly became just as nervous as her Earth pony friend had been the entire trip.

"Umm, thank you Pinkie… for the lift I mean." She spoke quickly, with anxiousness noticeably present in her voice.

Pinkie was silent for a while and stood at the door before answering calmly; quite unusual for the pink pony. "Yeah, but let me get you inside and comfy womfy. You can sleep in my bed and I'll find someplace else."

"But Pinkie–" Dash started.

"Dashie." Pinkie looked sternly over her shoulder at the Pegasus pony, interrupting her.

Rainbow Dash stared back at her, anxiously. "But… but where are you gonna sleep?"

"Oh, I have a couch. I can use that for tonight." She answered, suddenly confident in herself; she turned back and stepped into the pink house with a smile of a job well done and a good nap well deserved.

"Pinks… you don't have to do that." Dash protested, still apprehensive towards Pinkie's offerings.

The pink pony nudged the door closed with her muzzle and turned around, headed for the stairs and the second floor. "You're my friend Rainbow Dash. I… I want to do it."

As Pinkie walked up the steps to her room, neither she nor Dash said a word. When she reached the entrance, she nudged the door open with her muzzle and wandered up next to the huge, pink, and rather fluffy bed. The Earth pony stared confidently at the four poster bed; she was sure Dash would find it more comfortable that sleeping on her. She smiled briefly before speaking. "Okie dokey lokie! Here you go."

Rainbow Dash didn't answer.

Pinkie began to worry. _Did I do something wrong again? Is she too nervous to speak anymore? Oh, I wish I could make Dashie feel better. She seemed so sad on the way back here and she hardly said a thing after I said I'd give her a lift. _Suddenly, Pinkie heard a low rumbling sound. She looked over her shoulder at the Pegasus pony that had again leaned her head against the pink pony's neck. She was sound asleep and snoring with a smile on her face; her head rested quite comfortably on Pinkie Pie's magenta-coloured mane. She slipped the sleeping pony off her back and carefully into the bed. Walking quietly to the door, the little pony turned her head to look at her bestest best friend once more. "Goodnight, Dashie."

She smiled kindly and walked out, closing the door behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

"No thorns aside from what you bring in yourself."

Chapter 2

Friendship is partying

_It was late and the super-duper cool night air drifted calmly through the streets of Manehattan. The clouds hovering over the city had abruptly decided to become cumulonimbus clouds; once all of the water droplets were too heavy to be contained, the clouds burst open, dumping their contents onto the buildings and anypony unlucky enough to be out at this hour. However, the noise of the rain was buffered by the pink-coloured cake house and couldn't enter the ears of the sleeping Pegasus pony comfortably nestled inside it. _

As Pinkie walked back down to the lower level to collapse on the couch, she thought of what she could do to thank Rainbow Dash. _She's been so nice to me all this time and I haven't really done anything for her. What could I do for an awesome pony like her anyway? _She slumped down onto her couch and put a hoof to her chin. _She said she hasn't had fun in a long time, but what can I do to change that? _With a moment more of pondering, she had her answer. A soft giggle escaped her lips as she face-hoofed. _Silly Pinkie. Of course I know what to do for Dashie! _She jumped up and off the couch and zoomed into a closet that seemed to appear out of nowhere; she wasn't seen again until morning.

As Pinkie went about her mysterious business in the previously none-existent closet – just off to the left of the couch, presently positioned off center to the room – a front window revealed many wet ponies (some with carriages in tow) cantering off for shelter at their dullier than dull homes. The sight would make a pony vacationing away from a more fun oriented place ask:

_Why are all these ponies so boring all the time? Even in the rain they run for the shelter of their boring old grey homes. _Another passing carriage would make that same vacationer add, _Anypony with the least bit of fun in them would want to be out soaring in that downpour. _With a huff the pony would turn around and leave with one more thought, being:

_No fun at all. _

_The ponies of this city never had any true experience of what we call 'fun'; all they knew was work… how boring that must've been. Manehattan was a city of business and the ponies in it were quite content to keep it that way; at least, that's what it seemed to be. Now the whole party being un-fun idea was a very accepted concept of any Manehattanite's life; however, some parties cannot be anything… but fun. _

In the morning, Pinkie had just finished her great work and was bounding up the steps three at a time to reach her room quicker. _Ooh I can't wait until Dashie sees what I made for her. She's gonna be sooo super-duper excited! Ooh, I wonder what we're gonna do first… maybe we can– _Before she could finish her thought, she heard something coming from the room. She put an ear to the door and listened closely.

"Pinkie Pie… you are sooo random." Rainbow muttered slowly. She was still sleeping; she must have been more tired than either of them had thought.

The pink Earth pony giggled to herself and smiled. _That's me. _But then she heard something else. Something that made her gasp, slip on the top step, and bounce all the way down to the first floor.

She sat up without a problem, but she still looked shocked as to what she had just heard from the Pegasus pony's lips. "D-Dashie… l-l-loves me?" She whispered to herself.

"Pinks, are you okay? What happened?" Dash's voice called from the top step. She stared down at the pink mess sitting on the bottom step with a worried look on her face.

"Oh, uhh… hi Rainbow Dash." Pinkie looked up into the concerned and still groggy eyes of her Pegasus pony friend and gulped. "Me? Happened? Why… nothing happened. I'm just sitting on the bottom step waiting for you to get up so we can have some more fun today. Other than that... abslotively nothing at all." She finished with a wide, uncomfy looking smile spread across her pink face.

A little put off by the ponies' noticeable, but untraceable nervousness, Dash raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Oookaay. So… what are we gonna do today?"

Pinkie suddenly gasped as she realised something. "Dashie! You're moving!"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be moving?" She asked, lifting up a hoof.

Pinkie was hopping up the stairs towards Rainbow as she spoke… quite rapidly and joyfully. "Yesterday you were hurt all over and I had to carry you back here so you could sleep and rest up, but now you're all better and you can move and walk and fly again. Oh, I'm so happy everything worked out!"

Rainbow looked down sadly. The pink pony noticed and stopped bouncing to look into her friend's rose-coloured eyes with her own worry glazed, circular ones. "About that Pinks." Attempting to move her wings cautiously, the rainbow-maned pony cringed; her entire body tensed up with a burning pain spread across her wings. "I don't think it's just a sprain anymore." She proceeded to relax them swiftly afterwards.

Pinkie immediately gasped at Dash's pain. "Oh no! Your wings, Dashie! Well, that settles it. You're staying here until you're better and I'm just the pony to make you well again. By the end of sometime, you'll be all better and flying in no time. That's a Pinkie promise."

Rainbow smiled and tilted her head to the left quizzically. "And what's a Pinkie promise?"

"Oh, it's what I do whenever I have an incredibly super amazing and importa-rific promise to keep. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She answered and did the proper hoof jesters to her rhyme.

At the sight of Pinkie jamming a hoof into her eye without any visual discomfort coming from such an act, Dash couldn't help but giggle. "Pinkie Pie, you are soo random."

Pinkie smiled brightly. "Of course. I am the most energetic and happy pony in Manehattan."

"More like all of Equestria." Rainbow smirked and started walking down the steps.

Pinkie blushed at the statement, but then looked distressed when she noticed her Pegasus friend wandering down to the lower floor. "Oh, Dashie. You need to get back to bed… quickly!"

Dash reached the bottom and turned to glance at Pinkie. "Oh Pinkie, I'm fine… and hey… I didn't see this door here before." She turned her head to look at the closet Pinkie had been in the entire night; the Earth pony winced and quickly leapt to the bottom.

When she reached the last step it was already too late to shout. Rainbow Dash had opened the closet and was staring, open-mouthed, into a large room, full of brightly coloured decorations with rainbow coloured cakes and multi-coloured cupcakes and muffins and sarsaparilla and many other delicious looking sweets placed along the tables inside it. Gazillions of balloons were tied to all the seats at the tables, with green and blue and violet and yellow and orange and red colours all jumbled up confusedly. Streamers hung down from the ceiling and a giant cake was at the center; which read, in pink icing on top:

'Thank you, Rainbow Dash'.

Pinkie suddenly called from behind Rainbow Dash. "I– Well…" The Pegasus pony turned around to face her; her muzzle still hung somewhat open in disbelief. She saw the pink pony staring at the floor and rubbing a fore-hoof against the other nervously. Bouncing along in her Pinkie-mind with the strength she needed, the little pony continued her explanation. "I thought I should do something nice for you since you cheered me up so much yesterday. So I decided to throw you a huge 'thank you' party in your splendiferous honour." The bright smile returned to her face, along with a few giggles directed at her friend's befuddled muzzle.

"How did you do all this… in a closet?" Dash asked breathlessly with an eyebrow raised high and a hoof motioning behind her.

Pinkie smiled awkwardly and spoke uncharacteristically slowly and quietly. "I was up all night, finding all the decorations and streamers and cupcakes… and I even made that cake there too. It's the first one I ever really made. The other cakes for my parties were just bought from the old sweet's shop down the street, but this time I decided I wanted to make it all by my-pony-self. Ooh, it was super-duper fun to watch it bake too; I've never seen something so cool before – except for your terrifically colourful mane though – and it was even more fun to decorate it." A subtle silence swept over the room, like a huge pink blanket on a cold winter's night, and the pink Earth pony stared down at the floor dreamily. Breaking the silence after a few moments, Pinkie hesitantly looked up into Dash's eyes once more. "So, do you like–? Ooph!"

The pink pony was abruptly interrupted by a rainbow blur as Dash gave her pink friend a huge hug. But the sudden movement and contact with the mare made her wings spread out of their own accord; all that came from the Pegasus' lips as a response to this was:

"Oww, oww, oww!"

But she kept hugging the little pony, despite the stinging sensation pouring from her now splayed out wings.

Stunned at Dash's embrace, Pinkie Pie's hooves wouldn't move up to return the hug. "Rainbow Dash… are you–?"

"Thank you, Pinkie." The blue pony spoke as she closed her eyes and nuzzled the Earth pony's mane.

Pinkie's mouth was open for a few seconds after, but then a caring smile formed on her face and she finally hugged her friend back. "Sure thing, Dash."

The two held their hug for a few minutes; their eyes closed until Rainbow Dash released the Earth pony from her hooves. "So, what are we gonna do first Pinks?"

Pinkie's head tilted to the side in confusion. "What do you mean, Dash?"

"At the party." Rainbow Dash sat down and spoke with a hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "I think it's a pretty big waste for me to be in a bed and for you to be looking after me, so let's go to your awesome party instead. We can have that candy eating contest too." She jumped back up and struck her flight pose.

The pink pony smirked, sat down, and looked at up slightly to properly count off in her pink mind, what she had set-up at said pony party. "Well, I brought pin-the-tail-on-the-pony and bobbing for apples and super tasty punch drinking contests and a whole buncha other stuff for us to do." She bounced up and kept bouncing as she finished. "And the tons and tons of goodies I made should keep us both fully energized for the whole entire day!"

"Sounds like fun. Hey, are you any good at pin-the-tail-on-the-pony?" Rainbow asked, gesturing quizzically to Pinkie with a sly left hoof.

The Earth pony on the other right hoof looked insulted. "'Any good'? Who do you think you're talking to, Dashie? Anything partier-ific is my specialty." She answered with a hoof to her chest proudly. She beamed a wide, closed eyed smile at the Pegasus pony; her proud jester turning into another self-inflicted giggle-fit. She looked down at the floor with a hoof to her mouth to suppress her laughter.

"Then I challenge you to a pin-the-tail-on-the-pony contest. Now where's a suitable prize for one of us to win?" Rainbow Dash progressed to sit down on her rump and tilted her head around the brightly coloured room in thought. She strained to find something for a prize to such a contest, but couldn't find anything that they didn't already have plenty of. There's gotta be something here worth winning. Suddenly, an idea came to her. Perfect. "The winner of this first competition gets the name of… the Premier party pony. Deal?" Proud of her brilliant suggestion, she turned back from gazing longingly at the stairs for an answer to her self-imposed question and put a hoof out to shake Pinkie's, but found that she was nowhere to be found.

Before the Pegasus could figure out where her pink friend could have gone, a cheerful, but impatient sounding voice called from inside the room. "Dashie? Are you coming… or do I have to play all by my-pony-self?" Dash looked over at the back corner of the extraordinarily large closet and spotted Pinkie on her rump next to the pony poster with her back legs spread out in front of her and her fore-hooves placed between them in a sitting posture. She wore a jokingly bored expression on her face.

Rainbow giggled and began to wander over to the Earth pony, navigating through the maze of tables and streamers that the pink pony had set up. "Wow! Those games must last for a long time." She said, sarcastically.

"Heh, tell me about it." She answered, just as sarcastically rolling her beautiful blue eyes in acknowledgement of the continuing joke.

The two ponies initiated their game with a coin flip to decide which pony would go first; Pinkie would always call 'tails' no matter what game they played. Unfortunately for her, Dash was aware of this fact all too well, be it from the two ceremoniously flipping a coin to decide on what prank they should pull next on the ponies of Manehattan or from boredom when the pony being pranked wouldn't show up. This time, like all the others, with this knowledge, won her the flip. Rainbow would be the first pony to go.

Pinkie tied the blindfold carefully behind the rainbow-maned pony and began spinning her around and around. Once she had stopped turning Dash, the Pegasus could only just stand on all four hooves; walking clumsily towards tables of sweets and bowls of punch, the pink pony only just managed to keep her bestest best friend out of trouble. However, she did unintentionally allow Dash to dunk her head into the punch bowl in front of the poster in order to eat a few cupcakes placed right next to the punch bowl. This earned Pinkie Pie a swift pink and blue cupcake to the face from the Pegasus soon after words, allowing the pink pony to have the first cupcakes of the party; which she accepted gratefully of course. When Rainbow was finished laughing at Pinkie for licking the tiny cake from her bright pink muzzle in the most comical and cute way she possibly could, she placed the blindfold on again and walked carefully to the wall.

As Rainbow Dash had her turn, Pinkie could have sworn the Pegasus pony had played this game tons and tons before. She watched her friend in amazement at how she had focused back to her task so quickly and how her hoof was nearly perfectly aligned with the center of the poster; she wanted to win.

Dash's hoof slowly moved from left to right, trying to find her mark while Pinkie began to tremble with excitement. _She seems so calm and relaxed about everything. Ooh, this'll definitely be a fun-tabulistical game of pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. I can feel it in my hoovsie-oovsies. _With that, she saw Dash place the tail a centimeter from the 'X' and her muzzle fell open.

Removing the blindfold to see her achievement, Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie Pie with a smug look on her pretty face. "Top that Pinks." She smirked at the pink pony.

Pinkie gulped. _No pony but me has ever got that close before. Oh, maybe I'm not as partier-ific as I thought I was. _

Rainbow noticed that her friend was uneasy about something and her competitive attitude dropped to one of encouragement. "Come on Pinks. If I can get it that close to the mark, then you have nothing to worry about. Now get your rump up there and hit that 'X'."

From the Pegasus' reassurances, Pinkie suddenly drew on a face of pure concentration and fortitude. She nodded her head at Rainbow Dash's stunning rose-coloured eyes and turned to the poster to take her turn. The intensity of the situation only became more so as the rainbow-maned pony prudently wrapped the blind-fold around the pink pony's head and spun her around and around, being careful not to spin her too much as to make her fall over. When Pinkie Pie had spun Dash around, the ordeal left her cyan-coloured friend a tad dizzy, but the Earth pony was so focused on the task at hoof she didn't even notice.

The blue pony's words still bounced around in her curly-maned head:

_'Now get your rump up there and hit that 'X''. _

As she made her way to the poster, Pinkie found a sense of absolute calmness coursing through her entire being. There was no outside noise, no audible interruptions; just the echoing words of the Pegasus pony to keep her company. As they hopped this way and that inside her mind, her head somehow knew she was at the poster:

Her head had hit the wall.

The pink Earth pony quickly proceeded to rub the now tender spot with a hoof and whispered a soft, "Ow" before returning to her game. With the sudden pain fading, she focused her thoughts back on the game at hoof.

Memories of the numerous pin-the-tail-on-the-pony games she had planned and partaken in began to rush into her Pinkie Pie mind, developing a perfect rendition of the wall before her. The words still bounded in and out of perceptibility inside her pink head, calling out to her:

_'Come on Pinks.' _

The image of the 'X', implanted in her brain, was glaring at her to miss, but the Earth pony would not be swayed from her given task. And still the splendourifical encouragements of her bestest best friend kept with her, declaring:

_'You have nothing to worry about.' _

Pinkie was smiling, knowingly. She was going to win… _For Dashie. _

When she removed her blind-fold, she peered at the spot she had placed the tail. It was smack dab in the middle of the 'X'.

The pink pony stepped back, flabbergasted. _I did it. Perfectly centered and everything. _She couldn't believe her deep blue eyes no matter how long she stared at the poster.

Rainbow Dash trotted up to stand next to her friend, nudging Pinkie's shoulder with an elbow to get her attention. "You did it… yes! Right in the center. See? I told ya you could do it." The Pegasus looked from the poster to the pink pony for her response, but none came. "Uh… Pinkie Pie?" Dash wondered if she had broken her somehow or if she was in deep thought about something and couldn't hear her. _Why is she staring at me like that? _

Pinkie gazed dreamily into her friend's utter-tastically gorgeous rose-coloured eyes for a moment; they were soo beautiful she felt herself becoming lost in them. Freeing herself from those compassionate eyes, she leaned forward slowly and kissed her on the cheek. It only lasted a few seconds, but that was long enough for both of them to feel heat forming in their cheeks. She knew now what had helped her win, but the sensation from that realisation felt so odd and somehow relaxing to her.

"Thanks, Dash." The pink party pony spoke absentmindedly to the Pegasus pony, with a hesitant smile on her face. Realising what she had just done and what she remembered from the morning, she began to move away, blushing profusely.

Meanwhile, her friend's cheeks were rapidly becoming as red as an apple; this sensation was continued with another wide spread of her wings, but the magenta-maned pony was already out of viewing range to take notice. _Nice going Pinkie. _She scolded herself. _You're not supposed to kiss other girls. … I must have heard her wrong anyway. Maybe she said, 'I love your mane and tail, Pinkie'. That must've been it; I mean… we're friends. Bestest best friends. _

Seconds after Pinkie's lips touched her cheek the blue pony's wings flew open again, but this time she didn't even notice the pain that came along with them. She was too shocked to notice anything but the growing feeling on her reddened cheeks.

_It's okay Dash, _She told herself as she looked down at the ground and slowly recovered from the situation. _She was just saying thank you; no big deal. _Dash looked at Pinkie, wandering away. _Then why am I so nervous? _Shaking that unsettling question to the back of her mind, she found herself suggesting their next party move. "Hey, Pinks… why don't we have that candy eating contest now?"

"Ooh, great idea Dashie! I'll get it all set up in a jiffy!" She shouted with a sudden spring in her step.

And it was all there in a jiffy. Before Rainbow Dash's eyes, Pinkie Pie became a blur of pink as she zoomed from table to table and placed an equal amount of goodies on the two tables directly in front of the Pegasus pony.

The only thing Dash had time to say before she too was grabbed by the pink blur was:

"Wow."

As Pinkie placed Rainbow at one table, she rushed over to hers and began speaking. "Ready? Steady?"

By the time she had got there, Dash was by no means ready or steady and she tried to say so: "W-Wait Pinkie I–" But she was again interrupted.

"GO!" The pink pony yelled and she dove into the tables contents and began chowing down.  
Reluctantly – and with an air of regret for ever challenging Pinkie to a contest like this – she too dove her head in and started with the rainbow cupcakes at the front of the surprisingly well organized pile of sweets.

_In fact, all of the treats along the two tables were organized into their correct piles. The multi-coloured cakes were in one pile, as were the rainbow sprinkled, pink frosting cupcakes; which were stacked next to the sarsaparilla with pink and blue straws and beautifully decorated chocolate sundaes and blueberry muffins and just about every other sweet tasting food you could imagine. There were even some delicious looking piñatas stuffed on the ends of the two tables, full of candies that the pink pony had made and filled herself. _

As Rainbow Dash had finished her fifth cupcake and was headed for some punch to gulp it down with, the Earth pony was already half-way through her sixth large cake and was showing no signs of slowing down.

Pinkie dove into the pile of cakes and sweets like any other time she would eat… with her mouth wide open as she gobbled the sweets down in one particularly messy go. She wasn't really trying to win; in fact after a while of eating soo many cakes and cookies, she almost forgot she was actually in a contest until she glanced up and spotted Dash eating like crazy to keep up with the now candy-coated pony.

Pinkie Pie was just eating at her natural pace, but after watching Rainbow struggle out of the corner of her eye for a while, she felt so sorry for her friend for not being able to sustain such a substantial pace like she could. It wasn't her fault she couldn't eat as much as Pinkie; the Earth pony just had more of an appetite for cakes and cupcakes and other tasterific goodies. She decided then that she would let Rainbow Dash win this time.

_I don't mind giving up my title for a friend like her. _She smiled at the thought of Dash being happy to have beaten a candy-crazed pony such as her on her first try and put her hooves on her stomach. She gladly began a very exaggerated and very fake sounding speech of defeat at the hooves of the Pegasus pony. "Oh, no more. I can't… eat… another bite." Pinkie pushed the cake she would normally be gobbling right now away and rested her hooves on her stomach again. "Too full, Dashie. I think you've finally beaten me at my own game."

Rainbow Dash looked at the pink pony quizzically for a moment, then smirked. She pumped a hoof into the air in triumph. "Yes ha ha! Victory is mine!" Dash looked happily down to her Earth pony friend and found that she was staring back at her with widened blue eyes.

"Dashie… you-you're flying! Your wings are all better!" She quickly jumped up from her seat and started bouncing up and down happily.

Dash was shocked to see the pink pony was correct. She was in fact right near the ceiling of the first floor. _Huh? When did that happen? _She shook off the question and smiled back down at the pony as she hovered back down to the ground. "I guess I am. And I guess they are." She answered, flapping her wings about. _There's no pain at all. How is that–? _

Leaping on top of the Pegasus and knocking her yet again to the ground in a huge Pinkie Pie hug, the pink pony shouted with glee. "Yay! You're okay again!" She relaxed her grip on Rainbow Dash once she remembered doing that was what had injured her friend and she looked down at the blue pony underneath apologetically. "Oops. Sorry Rainbow Dash. I wouldn't want to hurt your wings again just after they got better." Looking down happily at her friend, she noticed that Dash was staring back up at her with a look of calmness and curiosity that made Pinkie Pie feel a bit self-conscious. Getting off Dash, the Earth pony lent a hoof to pull her back up.

Regaining her senses the Pegasus pony took the pony's fore-hoof gratefully. "That's okay Pinks. Thanks." She replied trying to sound relaxed about being tackled.

It didn't fool Pinkie though.

As she stood on her hooves Rainbow saw the ginormous cake the pink pony had made with her own four hooves and stared, entranced at it. "Hey, Pinks. Think it's time we had some real cake?" Dash grinned back at the Pinkie Pie, who smiled softly.

"Waaay ahead of you, Dashie." She quickly zoomed off to the table directly in the center of the closet. The Pegasus pony chuckled to herself at her friend's energetic bounciness and trotted casually over to the table.

Hoofing over a freshly cut piece of rainbow-coloured cake – with red velvet filling – to Rainbow, the Earth pony wore a smile that seemed too large for her to actually manage, but somehow it worked on her large and vibrantly pink face.

The Pegasus took the cake in her hooves and began eating it right away; while Pinkie cut herself a noticeably larger piece for herself. She licked her lips and prepared to gobble the first cake she ever baked ever.

Rainbow Dash noticed her obvious excitement to gobble her creation and grinned almost as widely as her pink friend was. "Hey, Pinks. You know you sure got your appetite back fast. A few seconds ago you seemed to be about to explode." She was just barely holding back bursts of laughter as she saw Pinkie's face grow redder and redder.

Pinkie looked over to her friend uncomfortably and tilted her head to the side. "He he yeah, maybe even twice."

"Good one, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash was having a giggle-fit at seeing her friend so nervous for being found out. She held out a hoof for the pink pony to low-hoof, but kept pulling it back before she could reach. After two tries the magenta-maned pony burst into laughter, being followed soon after by Rainbow Dash.

Once the fits of giggles had died down, Pinkie opened her eyes and stared into the rose-coloured eyes before her. "… I guess I'm not much of a pretender am I?"

"Well you're not the best liar in Equestria, but you still have the Premier party pony sown up." Dash finished eating her piece of cake and waited to see how her pink friend ate hers in one bite. It was quite fascinating for Rainbow to watch Pinkie manage such a bizarre feat as this.

"Thanks Dashie." Pinkie popped the ginormous piece into her mouth with party pony ease and chomped down on the pink and rainbow-coloured frosting, succeeding once again in making Dash smile with confusion on how the pony managed to eat soo much. After swallowing loudly, the pink pony smiled at her Pegasus friend and continued to return Rainbow's compliment. "You're a good bestest best friend and a totally terrifitastic flier… So what should we do now? You're all better, so I guess you'd wanna get back home right?" Pinkie asked as she rubbed a fore-hoof against the other.

Dash put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Well, actually… I was kinda hoping to get some flying and pranking done with the only pony in all of Manehattan that can eat as much candy as Rainbow Dash. How 'bout you Pinks?"

A second later all that could be seen of the pink pony was a streak of pink, beginning from in front of Rainbow Dash, leading out the door, and into the streets. Dash chuckled and flew out of the house as well. _Phew. It feels good to be able to fly again, but how did it happen so quickly? I thought I'd be down for a whole week with an injury like this. The only thing I can think of that would have helped was–! _She shook the sudden thought from her head. _No, that can't be right; ponies can't affect the healing process just by being happy and cheerful all the time. _

"Hey Rainbow Dash, where are you going?" The pink pony shouted from the ground.

Rainbow stopped and looked at the small pink mare on the ground far below. She had been flying up into the sky absentmindedly while she was daydreaming and didn't even notice. _It must be from a lack of sleep, _she thought, trying to calm herself down. _Yeah, that's it. I just need a little rest is all. I'll just make up a fluff ol' cumulous cloud for a little nap later. _With that relaxing thought in mind, she coasted back down to Pinkie Pie. "Sorry Pinks, I was thinking of something and I must've gotten distracted." She scratched the back of her mane apologetically.

"Oh? What were you thinking about?" She implored with rapidly blinking blue eyes as her head and mane tilted to the side questioningly.

The rainbow-maned Pegasus pony began sweating nervously. "Oh, you know, just all the things I'm gonna have to catch up on in flying to make up for my injury, that's all." The smile spread awkwardly across her face didn't seem at all natural for her, probably because what she just said was a terrible lie to an embarrassing thought she had had. She was thinking that Pinkie Pie and her ever cheerful demeanour had been what healed her wings.

Realising that only made her feel worse.

The pony in question noticed the nervousness of the rainbow-maned pony before her and stared deeply into Rainbow Dash's rose-coloured eyes. Dash had never felt tenser in all her life than how she felt right now.

It appeared to her like Pinkie was staring right through her soul and it made her quite uncomfortable. She felt shivers run down her spine; however she kept staring into her friend's beautiful blue eyes as if she was in an inescapable trance to which there was no end. But just as suddenly as it had made itself known on the pink pony's face, the stare disappeared and was replaced by a look of genuine bouncerific gladness. "Okie dokey lokie!" She shouted and she began bounding away cheerfully.

"Phew. That was close." Heaving a huge sigh of relief, Rainbow Dash spread her wings gracefully and took off after her. As she caught up to the pink pony, she noticed something different about her bouncing. It seemed more forced to her now, like she was worried about something. _Is it another prediction? _Rainbow pondered. _Nah couldn't be. After a prediction like the one yesterday, she wouldn't let me go anywhere if she had another one. _She chuckled at her bestest best friend's concern for her safety. _I'm sure it's nothing. _

With her head cleared of worry and full of new pranking ideas for the silly inhabitants of Manehattan, Rainbow Dash flew down low and landed next to her bestest best friend, with a smirk across her beautiful cyan-coloured face. "So Pinkie, who're we gonna prank first this time?" While Rainbow looked absentmindedly in Pinkie's direction, looking for somepony new to prank, Pinkie Pie had her shoulders raised high against her body. She was smiling broadly at Dash's face with eyes half-closed in giggly anticipation. "We need another victim who's made of tougher stuff." When Rainbow turned away from the pink pony, to look about the streets for said victim, Pinkie turned her head to the opposite side she was and began snickering to herself with a hoof raised slightly in an attempt to muffle her laughter. "So, who's it gonna be?" Keeping pace with the Earth pony, Dash looked back to the front slyly.

Rainbow heard a faint chuckle from beside her and the Pegasus pony looked to see Pinkie giggling almost uncontrollably now. _What is she laughing at? _She thought to herself. Before she could answer it herself, the pink pony stopped laughing and looked at Dash.

She smiled back fondly and switched to a slow trot with her bestest best friend following swiftly. "Oh, I've got somepony in mind." A hoof rose again, managing to hold off her giggle-fit as she continued. "The toughest around." She turned her head away from Rainbow with an even larger grin, muffling her voice with increasing difficulty.

Dash took to the skies once more and rubbed her fore-hooves together in anticipation. "Oh awesome! Who who, do I know them?"

Pinkie looked back at the rainbow-maned Pegasus as her eyes began to sparkle with glee and her laughing became more profound. "Oh yes. You're very close." She struggled to hold back giggles as she kept walking forward.

Rainbow Dash stopped to think; her wings flapping just enough to keep her at Pinkie's level. _Who do I know here that she knows I know? Hmm. _Dash looked around at the residents of the town to see if she knew any of them, but was coming up blank. _I don't know anypony here, so who could she be talking about? _Suddenly, something in a nearby mirror caught her eye.

Soaring over to it, she saw her face covered in pink and blue frosting from the party they just came from. Smirking, Dash wiped the icing off on her hoof and heard the pink pony breaking into a rather loud giggle-fit a few hooves ahead of her. With her eyes closed from her laughter, Dash managed to crash into Pinkie Pie, successfully knocking the party pony to the ground. "So ya think you're a funny pony, huh?" With a broad smirk, Dash glared down at the Earth pony and held up a hoof covered in icing; she waved it over her hyper-active pink friend menacingly.

Pinkie gulped loudly and waited, with her eyes shut tight, for her inevitable demise; which was surely filled with pink and blue frosting. _This is it. _Waves of imaginings and possible outcomes to this situation bounded in and out of her Pinkie Pie-mind; all of them left her imagined self with a face full of sugary cake frosting.

The intensity of the situation only grew as seconds went on for the captured pony, lapsing into minutes and yet more minutes.

But nothing ever happened.

There was no sound or movement the pink pony could pick up; she was becoming anxious. _Am I… already gone? _She thought. _That was fast; I didn't feel anything. _Pinkie paused to feel her tummy with both hooves and came to a relieving realisation. _No, I'm still here. But– _Her ears rose up, picking up a new sound.

Interrupting her thought process – which would surely have more bizarre assumptions and imaginings later – she heard a high-pitched "Mmm", resonating in her ears from on top of her. Pinkie then cautiously opened one blue eye to see Dash licking the last of the icing off of her hoof and giggling at the pink pony's confused pink face.

With her mouth still full of face-cake, the Pegasus' words came out muffled. "What? This is good." Dash replied, licking her candy-coated lips and smiling.

Shortly after that comment, the two erupted with laughter at the pranks they pulled on each other; neither of them even noticed that Rainbow was still lying on top of Pinkie's pink form. Hopping off of the Earth pony, Dash leant a fore-hoof for Pinkie to grab and allowed her bestest best friend to jump onto her back again. With Pinkie laid comfortably on Rainbow's back, the Pegasus pony kicked off and zoomed further into Manehattan city.

The two adventure loving ponies had another terrifical day of pranking and soaring through the skies, but Pinkie made sure that Dash would land on the ground as soon as she felt any pain in her wings. Dash never stopped flying her around the busy and bustling city until it was quite late in the afternoon. And this time, Rainbow Dash flew Pinkie Pie back to her cake home. As they landed Pinkie hopped off and walked up to the door, nudging it open for her friend to walk through.

They chatted long into the evening about another prank day well achieved and how much they both loved the prank they played on Paul:

Dash flew through a deep grey rain cloud hanging over the city and collected the rain into a rather large water balloon and then – carrying Pinkie in her hooves – she flew just above the colt's head, allowing the Earth pony to drop it for a direct hit on him. The result was obviously hilarious when they saw just how much water his mane could actually hold when wet.

After their laughter died down at the memory, they both sat down and faced each other as they smiled. "Another great day, Pinks." She stood up and stretched her back and legs. "Well, I better get out of your mane so you can sleep tonight. Making that party must've been quite the task… even for you–" Rainbow Dash started walking towards the door to leave, but Pinkie called back to her.

"Wait!" Dash looked back to her friend, wondering what the pink pony could have to say. "We can have a sleepover here if you want. I mean yesterday you were just resting up, but now that you're all better I thought we could tell some ghost stories or have a pillow fight or something. I've never really had a sleepover before… 'cause without any friends to join you in the slumber party it's really just bedtime and since you're my bestest best friend in all of Equestria I thought you'd be the number one choice for my first one." She finished with a small smile and gazed pleadingly into the rose-coloured eyes of her friend, waiting for an answer. Both ponies were silently staring at each other now and before Pinkie could regret what she asked, Rainbow Dash gave her reply.

"Sure Pinkie." She answered with a joyful smile.

Pinkie seemed surprised at the blue pony's quick response. "Really?" Standing up, the Earth pony began walking over to Dash.

"Yep. I'd be honoured to be the first slumber party guest of Pinkie Pie's, but you have to promise me something." She looked sternly at the pink pony in front of her.

"What's that Dashie?" She asked with a quizzical smile. She sat down in front of her Pegasus pony friend and leaned in close to hear her demand more clearly.

Dash kept her stern expression, but it was betrayed by the growing smile on her face. "No more late-night closet-party planning. You have to actually sleep this time, okay?"

Pinkie held back giggles. "Okie dokey lokie. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She agreed with her hoof jesters.

The rainbow-maned Pegasus laughed at Pinkie's strange way of making promises and began stretching her back and wings. "Great. Guess I'll turn in then; I'm exhausted from all the running and flying away from angry citizens. Goodnight Pinkie Pie." She said sleepily as she began climbing the stairs to bed.

"Okay. Good–" Pinkie Pie suddenly gasped, grabbing Dash's full attention. "I just remembered I have a sleeping bag in my room. You can sleep in my room in my bed and I can use the sleeping bag in my room too! It'll be just like a real sleepover." She exclaimed, clapping her hooves together.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the pink pony with a sincere expression on her blue face. "Well Pinkie, are you sure you don't want your bed back then? I don't mind using the sleeping bag."

"Nope. The hostess always gives the guest her bed to sleep in. That's the rules… at least that's what Granny Pie told me." She put a hoof to her chin in thought.

"And who's this Granny Pie of yours, Pinks?" She asked, tilting her head to the side in interest.

"Oh silly. She's my Granny… duh." She replied, waving a hoof at Dash.

Dash tilted her head to the side with an impatient grin. "I know that Pinkie Pie, but what is she like? Is she a good Granny?"

"Oh, all Grannies are terrifically abso-posilutely perfect… but yes mine is good too. In fact, she's the one who taught me to giggle at all the ghostlies and guffaw at all the grosslies that are out there."

"And how did she do that?" She asked sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

Pinkie yawned suddenly. "I'll tell you tomorrow, 'kay Dashie? I'm real tired right now."

Rainbow Dash chuckled loudly at her usually hyper friend yawning. "What happened to the 'never ever gets tired Pinkie Pie' you told me about?"

"She's already asleep. This is the 'tired and wants to go to bed Pinkie'." She answered with a tired smile on her face and an even larger yawn than before. The Pegasus pony snickered at Pinkie's response.

Apparently Pinkie's yawns were contagious, because soon Dash was doing the same thing as she walked up the steps and slipped into her bed. Before Pinkie went to hers, she trotted over to Dash's bed and pulled the covers over her friend with a final:

"Goodnight Dashie."

Rainbow Dash suddenly felt flushed and afraid for a reason she couldn't understand; she gazed deeply into the pink pony's round, shimmering blue eyes as if they held the answer to her confusing and rather frightening question.

Pinkie didn't seem to notice her friend's gaze and turned around to begin walking to her sleeping bag, but Dash called back to her. "Pinkie?" She wanted these next seven words to be heard and understood only by herself and the pink pony. She spoke slowly and quietly, like this sentence held a deeper, more important, and more troubling meaning to her than anything else; a meaning that she both tried to figure out and fought to forget. "There's… something I want to tell you."

Spinning around and smiling brightly, the pink pony answered. "Yes Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie froze, as if all the warmth in her pink body was moved at once and was all gathered again at the spot where Dash had kissed her. The kiss didn't last long though, because the feeling that came with it only made the Pegasus pony more confused.

Dash pulled away from the kiss and concentrated, with some difficulty, on forming her next words. "Thank you… for looking after me." Her glimmering rose-coloured eyes were shut tightly, waiting for any response from the pony before her. Not hearing anything coming from her bestest best friend, she opened them and found that Pinkie still stood there with widened eyes and an unreadable expression on her pink face.

Her surprised expression softened considerably, being replaced with a very small smile, but her blush was all the more present on her face as she gave her reply. "S-Sure." Was all the little pink pony could say.

Pinkie Pie gradually turned around, looking at the floor, and walked over to her sleeping bag with a face as red as red can be. She had never been soo happy, sad, and confused in her entire life; she crawled clumsily into her sleeping bag with a dumb smile on her face and new scary feelings in her heart.

The Pegasus pony in bed was just as confused and flushed as the Earth pony was; she lay there with her wings spread out behind her, trying to determine her feelings. The bizarre thoughts that now raced through her mind were blocked by the sudden regret she felt for doing that and was about to apologize to Pinkie, but instead found herself fast asleep in the fluffy pink bed. The magenta-maned pony too soon found herself drifting off to sleep comfortably and they both dreamed of each other until the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

"Let confusion reign. There was beauty in confusion, anyway. And in each other."

Chapter 3

Close Calls and Closer Feelings

_It was morning in the super-duper-rifical streets of downtown Manehattan. Cumulonimbus clouds swiftly became cirrus clouds and floated away into the Everfree Forest, nestled closely by the busily growing city. Everything seemed soo quiet and peaceful in the large pink house, currently nuzzling the rainbow-maned Pegasus pony in a comfortable sleep; however, something had left the yummy-looking cake house since the dawn broke over the horizon. _

As the next morning shifted dully into the afternoon for the uptight residents, Rainbow Dash – possibly breaking the laws of physics – got up early to see her friend about what she had done last night. "P-Pinks? I'm sorry about last night… I just wanted to–" Her sentence came up short when she realised the sleeping bag was empty. Clamouring out of bed, Dash trotted confusedly down the steps and looked around the bottom floor for anything bouncy and pink. Peering around the room, something caught her eye; a pink note was placed on the couch that the two ponies had chatted on, long about yesterday's pranks. The colourful note was filled with tons and tons of red hearts, decorating the outside with pink and magenta. Hesitantly, Dash hoofed open the letter to read its contents in her fearful mind; she gulped and began to read. _To Dashie. Sorry I'm not there whenever you're reading this, but I have these super weird thoughts in my head right now and a walk usually helps me figure strange feelings out easier. Your bestest best friend, Pinkie Pie. _This message worried Dash to no end; she let the brightly coloured letter fall to the ground at her cyan hooves. "No. Pinkie, please…"

She flew all through the house trying to find the little pony and even checked the secret places Pinkie had shown her, including the secret party closet, but found no pink pony. Finding no pony in the pantry, still filled to the brim with candies and sweets of all deliciously spectacular sorts, Rainbow's search for her bestest best friend became more frantic and more confusing as she sped out the front door.

Flustered, Rainbow flew through the skies staring down at the ground to find the pony. She was thinking of what the pony might do and fearing to get an answer all at once. _I've gotta find her. I have to apologize before… _Her eyes shut tightly to forget those kinds of imaginings; her thoughts trailed off as the confusing feelings she'd had last night returned to torment her, but she fought them off too and locked her mind on finding the pink pony. She looked all around Manehattan, flying by all of the places Pinkie had pointed out to her as they flew across the large and rather dull city – including the local sweet's shop and the hair salon where they first met. She looked by the movie theatre Pinkie had promised to take her one day and peered inside a streamer seller's store that the Earth pony bought all her party supplies from. _Pinkie Pie. Where are you? _She questioned the inside of the store with her fore-head and hooves plastered against the window pane.

_In a bustling busy pony city such as Manehattan, there weren't too many stores that actually sold party supplies. Most buildings in the boring-as-hay city were business oriented and the ponies of those industries focused on such things as being unimaginably boring at most times of the day, only lightening a teensy-weensy bit once their day was done and they could go home. This fact of un-fun parties was known to everypony in Manehattan, but it appeared to be completely ignored by the pony running the shop. The fact that this was a store for party ponies in a city for boring businessie type ponies was not missed by the residents, or by the shop keeper; however there was also the really weird fact that he was still here and was of course, doing fine. _

It was getting late and Dash had run out of places to check. She was out of breath from all of the searching she alone was doing. "Where is that pink pony? I've gotta find her quick, before something happens to her. I'd never forgive myself if–" She had just begun a second round of searching the stores, but then she spotted a rather large crowd gathered on the borders of the forest just outside. She flew down and hoped to Celestia that they hadn't done anything to Pinkie Pie. "Hey, what's going on?"

"We just ran that Pinkie Pie out of town and into the Everfree Forest." The colt in question turned around as he responded and Dash recognized him instantly as Paul. He obviously recognised her immediately too as he glared up at the airborne pony. "You! You're the one that dropped that balloon on my head!"

"Yes I am." She lied. "So why did you have to send her away? She didn't do anything." She lowered her head and whispered sadly to herself. "She has enough trouble as it is right now."

Paul didn't seem to hear her last words and focused angrily on answering her first question. "Because that pony has been a nuisance in this city for far too long and you joining her with these pranks just made her cross the line." The colt scowled at the hovering Pegasus pony. "We've wanted to do this for a long time and now she's finally gone, thanks to you."

Rainbow Dash recoiled at this statement and stared into the Everfree Forest. She lowered her head as she recovered and glanced to the side in thought for a moment. Turning back slowly, Dash squinted at Paul as she spoke, teeth clenched. "I'm going to get her back and then I will make you personally apologize to her for putting the blame on the wrong pony." She kicked off the ground in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

"Then which is the right pony to blame?" Paul shouted towards the forest anxiously.

Dash disappeared through the trees and yelled one word back at the startled pony:

"ME!"

As Rainbow Dash soared rapidly through the trees determined to find her friend, Pinkie was walking slowly as thoughts clouded her Pinkie mind. _I'm sorry Dashie, but I can't stay there anymore. At least until I figure out these super confusing feelings I get whenever I'm with you. I don't know how you feel about me; I don't know how I feel about you anymore. I'm sooo super confused. _

Before she could take another step she heard a large crash from in front of her and quickly collapsed to the ground in agony. A gimongous cobra had appeared from the trees and was quickly and easily crushing Pinkie to the floor. Her pink body – usually quite resistant to any kind of injury – was being squeezed with every fibre and feeling striking her body, mind, and heart at once. She felt like at any moment she would pop… and not the soda kind of pop. A very unpleasant balloon pop feeling was coming over her entire being and she lay there for quite a while in pain, until she heard a faint whistling from where she had recently come.

Something or somepony was zooming through the air at rainboom speeds. As the cobra relaxed its muscles to see the disturbance, Pinkie was allowed to look up just in time to see a rainbow blur dash in and kick the snake's giant head. The cobra was struck dumb for a moment; it slid off the pink pony it had previously seen as prey, to shake its battered cranium. Rainbow Dash landed sharply in front of the injured pony to protect her from any further harm and fearfully looked over her shoulder to see the visible damage done to the pony. Seeing her bestest best friend struggling to stay conscious from the super-duper huge constriction on her small body, Dash's fearful face turned to heated anger, all towards the ginormous predator. She turned back to glare at the cobra as the snake regained its senses to loom over Rainbow Dash, trying to intimidate the new threat. "You won't touch her again." She growled with a blazing fire in her gorgeous rose-coloured eyes.

Dash stood her ground against the great serpent and dug her hooves furiously through the dirt at the snake, until it lunged its entire form forth with surprising swiftness; Rainbow, however, had anticipated this move and feverishly kicked off the ground to avoid the snake's strike, spreading her wings to take flight. And then Rainbow Dash swooped down the large snake with determination on her beautiful face schoom and just before she hit the ground zoom, she pulled up vroom. Picking up great amounts of speed she looped around and around the cobra like woo woo woo woo woo woo woooo, making it dizzy as she tried to figure out the best way to solve this slippery serpent problem.

Sensing a weakness in its jaw she pulled her wings in tightly around her body, looped around once more with the wind parting effortlessly from her outstretched hooves, and skyrocketed up to the snake's mouth to kick her back hooves out with all her might at the vicious predator. The cobra reeled and collapsed to the floor with its jaw nearly unhinged; shaking its head to re-join the bottom jaw to the top, it decided that a little pink pony wasn't worth the trouble of a truly broken jaw. Slowly the snake recovered and slithered off into the tall trees of the Everfree Forest, back to where it came from.

As the sizable serpent slithered silently away (try saying that three times fast), Rainbow Dash focused all her attention on the injured pink pony. Another glance in her direction revealed a motionless pink mass near a rather large, shady tree. Rainbow Dash flew hastily over and landed a few hooves in front to trot the rest of the way, but stopped abruptly; she stood there for a while, frozen at the terrible state of her pink friend. Her eyebrows rose in worry for her bestest best friend as she hesitantly approached the unconscious pony to gently nudge her limp shoulder with her snout. "P… Pinkie?" Her voice was soft as her friend's name barely managed to escape Rainbow's mouth; her throat was dry with fear. Dash was met with a distressing silence as the pony didn't reply; she clenched her teeth and closed her eyes to force back her fears. Rainbow gulped and kept trying to wake the unresponsive pony with more forceful nudges and choked out pleas. "P-Pinks? Please…"

No movement came from her pink friend and Rainbow Dash began to fear the worst. _I didn't fly fast enough. Why couldn't I get here sooner? _She turned her head down in anger. _It's all those Manehattanite's faults… _Dash caught sight of the Earth pony and sadly rested her eyes on her. _It's all my fault. _She lied down on her stomach and rested her head on the pink pony's neck with glistening rose-coloured eyes. "Pinkie Pie… I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner. Just please don't be– Please don't–" She closed her eyes to stop tears from forming and kept talking. "I don't care. You can hate me all you want for what I did, just please be alright. I-I–" She stuttered and was suddenly interrupted by movement underneath her. She sat up quickly, hoping, praying.

"Dashie?" Pinkie started groggily.

"Y-Yes, Pinkie Pie?" Her eyes bright and wet at the sight of her bestest best friend moving.

"I could never hate you." She sat up and nuzzled her snout and cheek against the now teary eyed Pegasus' mane and cheek; Dash quickly returned the gesture with tightly shut eyes and a very relieved smile on her happy, tear-soaked face. Neither of them blushed; neither of them needed to. At this moment the two ponies were grateful that the other was okay.

The two lay there for a while, comfortably snuggled up to one another. Pinkie had rested her cheek on Dash's chest, with blue eyes closed blissfully and a quiet smile on her face; Rainbow gently placed her chin on top of the Earth pony's mane and carefully wrapped her fore-hooves around Pinkie's back and magenta-coloured mane. The two silently held each other; the only thing Rainbow could hear was her friend's gentle sobbing.

As the hugging drew on, Rainbow felt something boiling up inside her from Pinkie's warm embrace; for the first time since she saved Pinkie Pie, Dash started to feel embarrassed about how the pink pony was acting towards her. She uneasily buried her muzzle into her friend's curly mane to think. _This is what got her here in the first place. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to feel about all this? _After a few minutes of unanswered questions, she hesitantly raised her head off Pinkie and loosened her grip on the Earth pony. She stared down at the crying pony leaning against her, trying to get an answer from her beautiful round eyes. Dash didn't have much experience with mushy comfortie stuff – given that she was a Pegasus with a need for speed – so she brushed an uneasy hoof through Pinkie Pie's mane, hoping to comfort her. "It's okay now, Pinkie. I saved you."

Pinkie felt the grip around her lessen and the stroke of Rainbow's gentle hoof on her coat. With glistening eyes, she looked up at the cyan-coloured Pegasus and Dash stared back, now locked in the pink pony's eyes. She saw the fear and worry lingering on the rainbow-maned pony's face and her lip started to tremble; seeing her bestest best friend again was the happiest, saddest, and most confusingest thing she'd felt in those two days spent together. "Dashie!" She screamed, eyes shut tight, and embraced the Pegasus pony closely to continue sobbing into Rainbow's already soaked chest.

Dash grunted as Pinkie Pie pulled her hooves around the Pegasus' back in a biiig hug; for a moment Rainbow was terribly flustered and nervous. She tried to focus on staying seated from the force behind Pinkie's tender hug, to ignore the sudden embrace, until Rainbow felt how nice it was to have the pink pony snuggled up against her. The heat, the tenderness, and the happiness filled her with emotions; at this moment, she chose to feel just one of them. With warmth spreading through her, she pulled Pinkie Pie tighter and began brushing a gentle hoof through her friend's mane in an attempt to stop the pony from crying for a reason she didn't quite understand. She forgot her insecurities and spoke quietly to the pink pony nuzzled against her. "You're safe now Pinkie."

Relaxed again from the contact and Dash's calming words, Pinkie started to explain herself. "I'm sorry… I– I was just soo afraid and confused about–" A sob stopped her from finishing and she buried her muzzle into the cyan Pegasus' chest.

Dash grunted again briefly before smiling down on the party pony, continuing to hold her. "It's okay, Pinkie." They remained there a while longer, but Rainbow knew they couldn't be there forever. One more moment of soft sniffling and tender hugging went by until Rainbow stood up and lowered her snout to nudge Pinkie's soft pink coat. Rainbow Dash spoke quietly to the crying pony. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Pinkie asked, still a little groggy. Rainbow walked beside her friend and Pinkie followed with her gorgeous, deep blue eyes.

"I'm getting you home. I hope you have everything you need to treat injuries like this at your house." She answered as she put her head under Pinkie Pie's body and lifted her carefully on to her back. The pink pony giggled along quietly with the procedure, causing Dash to smile and blush lightly as she kicked off and began her flight back to town.

_The Everfree Forest was a strange place. It was a dark, dank, and an oddly spoooky thing to wander into. The most strangest thing about the Everfree Forest, though, was that it was super wild. You really didn't know what was actually, truly in there. It was like if you threw a party for the first time and you had these little party popper thingies, but didn't know what they were and wanted to figure 'em out. So you put the end piece to your eye and pulled and pushed with your hoovsies on the other end until it popped with uncertainty – and streamers – into your very shocked face. The Everfree Forest was, however, more fun than Manehattan was. It was freedom out there; you could throw as many parties as you wanted and everypony would wanna be there with you! _

As she flew through the forest, carrying Pinkie back to Manehattan, her relief was replaced with a slight anger towards her friend. She turned her head to the Earth pony on her back. "Pinkie, why did you run away? You got yourself hurt and if I hadn't come along when I did you would've–" She cut herself short as Pinkie smiled kindly back at her.

"Aww, were you worried about me again Dashie?" Despite just being injured by a huge snake, Pinkie seemed to recover quite quickly on her bestest best friend's back; her hooves were wrapped tenderly around the Pegasus' neck.

Dash's expression only lightened slightly at seeing her wounded friend grinning at her after being mauled by a giganterific cobra. "Yes I was; you silly filly." She turned her head back to see where she was going and found that they were out of the Everfree Forest and could see the city of Manehattan ahead.

The pink pony rubbed her cheek against the Pegasus' rainbow mane as she spoke quietly. "Thanks for saving me Rainbow Dash. I was just scared about something… something… super-duper important to me."

The Pegasus didn't seem to feel the pony resting her chin upon her neck and kept talking strictly. "And what was that? What was so scary and important that you had to go into the Everfree Forest at night time to figure it out?"

Pinkie tensed up, gulped, and hesitated, lowering her head to rest on Rainbow's multi-coloured mane again. "My Granny Pie taught me a song when I still lived with my parents. And by singing that song it made me not afraid of anything scary in the world."

"Then what was the deal with the snake? If you sang your 'no fear song' then you could've totally taken him." She asked angrily over her shoulder at the pony and noticed for the first time that she had rested her pink head on her mane. The anger in the Pegasus pony's face faded and was replaced with a gentle smile.

The Earth pony responded immediately, but held calmness in her voice. "I couldn't remember the words. I was too scared of something I felt on the inside to worry about that. All I could think of was… was–" Pinkie became choked up suddenly and lowered her head, trying not to be seen by her bestest best friend.

"Was…?" Rainbow Dash asked, becoming impatient with her friend as she spoke, trying to receive an answer. Dash lowered her head as well, so that she could gaze into Pinkie's eyes for her silent answer.

Pinkie stared directly into the rose-coloured eyes of the Pegasus pony and beamed. "You Dashie." Pinkie finally struggled out.

Dash almost fell out of the sky, but she recovered quickly and continued flying with her eyes facing forwards; a secret smile glided across her face. _She was thinking about me? _That smile flew away and another thought plagued her mind. _I almost got her killed because I–? Because of what I did? _

The pink pony sensed something was wrong with her friend; she nuzzled her beautiful rainbow-coloured mane gently in an attempt to get her attention. "Dashie, you okay?" Pinkie Pie asked, Rainbow's attention granted.

"I'm fine Pinkie Pie, just… fine. Did the snake get you?" She replied, concerned about her friend's injuries.

The pink pony looked her body over, turned back, and smiled again with her head tilted to the side happily. "Nope, I think he just squeezed me a teensy weensy bit too tightly."

The Pegasus pony raised a confused eyebrow and looked quizzically at the party pony. "And… that's okay to you?"

Pinkie seemed to consider the question and raised a hoof to her chin before answering. "Well it's better then what I thought would happen if he continued to squeeze me too ittsy bittsy much." The sunny disposition she held was never lost on her bright pink face.

"And what was that, Pinks?" Rainbow Dash asked, half trying to keep the conversation going in fear of Pinkie's injuries being more extensive than either of them thought and half actually interested in what the pink pony might have been thinking while the snake squeezed her 'too ittsy bittsy much'.

"Oh, popping like a balloon that's filled with too much stuff. Why?" She answered cheerfully as if she was talking about an over-filled party balloon exploding.

"Just… curious." She replied, trying to hold back giggles and stay airborne.

As they returned to the city Rainbow Dash spotted Paul trotting along happily and she decided to pay him a visit. She dropped down behind him with Pinkie Pie still on her back.

"Hey, Paul!" She shouted with a sly smirk.

"What is it you–" The end of this sentence has been replaced with a gasp to stop a certain inappropriate word from entering a child's television show… thanks for laughing at the joke. His face dropped open and his eyes grew twice as wide as they normally were.

"Hi Paul!" Pinkie waved a hoof from the blue Pegasus' back as if nothing had happened between the two of them in the last few hours.

Paul tilted his head nervously to see the pink pony on Dash's back. "Uh h-hello, Pinkie Pie."

"So," started Rainbow Dash as she put a hoof to her chin. "What did I say I'd get you to do after I brought Pinkie Pie back from the Everfree Forest?"

Paul gulped. "Uhm… a-apolo-gize?" He windily answered.

"Correct." Rainbow Dash indicated with a sharp nod.

"I'm s-sorry for… chasing you… out of town?" He finished with a questioning tone and a tense smile. Dash's eyes narrowed as she gave him an unsatisfied glance. "A-And it'll never happen again. I swear." He spoke quickly and closed his eyes tightly.

The Pegasus dropped her angry gaze and smirked at the scared colt that was practically sweating in front of her and Pinkie. "Oh no, you've gotta Pinkie swear that much."

Paul gazed from Dash to Pinkie before beginning the well-known rhyme. He – along with the other residents of Manehattan – had unintentionally heard the rhyme coming from the pink pony's mouth every time she passed by; which happened to be quite often. "Cross m-my heart… and hope to fly, s-stick a cupcake…" He gulped. "… In my eye– Oww!"

Rainbow Dash's grin widened and she raised her head in triumph. "What do you think Pinks? Should we believe this guy?" She turned her head towards the party pony for her answer.

"Hmm, I guess. But only on one condition." She smirked as an idea came to her evil Pinkie mind.

Paul looked even more uncomfortable at the Earth pony's expression. "And... what condition is that, Ms. Pie?" He asked tensely, watching the two ponies before him with a nervous smile plastered on his fearful face.

Pinkie's expression lightened and she waved a hoof at the cringing colt in dismissal. "Oh, Pinkie is fine… and my condition is…" She paused for dramatic affect and to hold back her giggles a little longer. "… for you to throw more parties around here!" She finally burst out laughing at the colt's frightened face and began rolling over on Dash's back, holding her stomach tightly.

The rainbow-maned pony rolled her beautiful eyes with a chuckle. "I knew I should've just gone with my idea of giving him his wish to one day fly, but that can just be a warning to ya." She spoke with a wink.

Paul started backing away while he continued the conversation. "Yes… in fact… I'll start a party right now. Would you like to come and see it Pinkie?"

"Oh no. Thanks anyway Paul, but I need to rest up after being attacked by a gigantirific snake in the Everfree Forest; Rainbow Dash here is just carrying me back home to relax now." Pinkie relaxed her head on Rainbow's neck again and continued talking; Rainbow, on the other hoof, looked over at Pinkie and felt a warm smile growing on her face. "Sorry about that, I know how much you'd want me to help at one of your parties." She suddenly lifted her head off Dash's multi-coloured mane with another idea. "Oooh, maybe next time though?" She looked at him with glistening, hopeful eyes, waiting for his answer.

"Of course." He replied and trotted off, thankful that his 'wish' had not come true.

As they too walked away, Rainbow looked over her shoulder at the pony on her back. She seemed quite comfortable for a pony that was just recently mauled by a giant cobra. "Uhh, Pinks? About that. I was thinking that this place has been all pranked out and… well my vacation… here is almost done. So I have to move back to Cloudsdale soon." She tried to continue, but she was interrupted by the blue-eyed pony.

"Oh no, don't go Dashie. I'll-I'll miss you." Pinkie Pie suddenly looked very concerned and nervous, staring into Dash's eyes earnestly.

Rainbow quickly looked over her shoulder at the pink pony. "Let me finish Pinkie, I'm not gonna leave you. You are my bestest best friend after all." Dash lowered her head with a hopeful look on her face. "I was kinda thinking that you could come to Cloudsdale with me when I leave this boring place."

Pinkie stared silently into the blue pony's rose-coloured eyes, blushing deeply. A warm smile slowly bounced onto her face and she was about to answer, until a realisation struck the Earth pony. Pinkie's head tilted to the side quizzically and her blush and smile faded into a questioning look towards Rainbow Dash. "Cloudsdale, but isn't that a city in the clouds? Only Pegasi can get in there." When she finished talking, Pinkie seemed a bit downcast as to what she had said.

"Oh yeah." Rainbow's determined look turned to one of silent sorrow. "Never mind then." She turned her head away and kept walking towards Pinkie's cake-house.

Pinkie saw that look one too many times on her own face in the mirror and didn't want to see that expression on her bestest best friend's beautiful face any time. She had had another idea. She spoke out loud, but quietly enough so Dash wouldn't hear her. "I'm having tons of good ideas this week… Well except for the Everfree Forest one." She looked up thoughtfully again and spoke confidently. "But I do know where we could go."

"Really, where?" The Pegasus pony seemed hopeful and turned her head to see Pinkie's sparkling blue eyes again.

"My parents told me of a place not far from the rock farm we lived on and it's even closer to us from here." She continued with an ever widening grin.

"Cool." Dash replied, returning the Earth pony's expression. Confident now to get back to Pinkie's house, she turned her head forward.

Pinkie Pie, however, kept talking excitedly to the Pegasus, leaning her chin on Dash's shoulder gently. "Yeah, it's where I was headed to before I came here."

"Well, what's it called?" Dash looked over her shoulder and eagerly awaited the pony's response with bright, hopeful eyes.

Pinkie paused for suspense and then yelled:

"Ponyville!"

Rainbow Dash's cheerful gaze coasted down to one of confusion. "Ponyville?" She stopped for a moment to wonder why the pink pony wanted to go there, but shrugged it off and started again, walking more slowly than before.

The pink party pony popped her head up from her spot on Rainbow's shoulder and looked gleefully into her friend's baffled eyes. "Yeah, it's a really cute looking town. My Mom and Dad showed me all kinds of pictures from it and it looks real super cute and cuddly."

"Well okay, but we should pack all our stuff today and leave tomorrow. First I'll drop you off back at your place and help you get your stuff set and then I'll go to my house." Dash smirked as a thought came to mind and kept walking. "Hey Pinkie Pie, there's no real need to pay the rent for the next day if you're gonna leave the next day is there?" By this time, Rainbow Dash had passed the streamer sellers shop and was walking by the movie theatre Pinkie had told her about yesterday. _Guess we'll have to find a movie theatre in Ponyville instead. _She chuckled lightly when she imagined Pinkie Pie eating tons and tons of candy at the movies and laughing at all the scary and spooky parts, having a good time and just being Pinkie, until she imagined herself being there with her.

Thinking about Dash's offer, Pinkie answered her question absentmindedly. "Not that I know of, but–" The Earth pony gasped, startling Dash out of her reverie. Pinkie didn't seem to notice the Pegasus jump as she smiled. _Another super terrifical idea; how do I do it? _Pinkie thought. "Ooh ooh! What if I go over to your house tonight? I mean to see where you haven't been sleeping this whole time." She giggled at her own joke and waited to hear Rainbow's answer.

Rainbow Dash smiled with the thought of finally being back in her own bed. "Not a problem… if I can remember where my house actually is; I've been away from it for so long I might not be able to find it." Her smile turned into a chuckle as she turned to see the pink pony's inevitably giggly reaction.

"Oh Dashie, you're such a silly filly." She hugged Dash from behind and leaned her head against the multi-coloured mane of her friend. This made the Pegasus pony stop, raise a fore-hoof, and gaze at the pink filly silently. Rainbow Dash's smile was again growing on her lovely blue face as she began to trot leisurely along the streets, facing forward.

The trip back was a silent one, but – unlike the many uncomfortable journeys from before that both of the ponies had awkwardly endured, accompanied by bizarre feelings creeping up on both of them – the two ponies couldn't have been more comfortable with each other at that moment. The pink pony became so relaxed in the multi-coloured mane of Rainbow Dash that she almost fell asleep. Just as the Pegasus pony noticed her friend relaxed in her mane and smiled gently at her, the house came into view; Dash prudently nudged Pinkie awake with her snout, making the pink pony slowly lift her tired head up to gaze at the building.

Once the two ponies entered Pinkie's cake-house, they quickly began packing all of the cupcakes and streamers and sarsaparilla and cakes and balloons and anything else the pony wanted to keep – and possibly eat later – into a bag. When they seemed to be done, Pinkie's bag didn't seem even half full yet.

"There's just one thing I'm forgetting. Wait here Dashie, I shouldn't take long." She started up to her room as Rainbow Dash watched her friend happily bounce up the stairs two steps at a time with the bag in her mouth.

_Well, _Thought Dash smugly. _At least she's not jumping on top of skyscrapers anymore. _

Pinkie had reached the top and trotted into the room, humming to herself. Loud crashing, glass breaking, and other unknown objects smashing following swiftly after filled the Pegasus pony's sensitive ears. She instantly began to worry and flew up to the top step to see what had happened, just in time to see the pink Earth pony bounding out and landing in front of her.

Pinkie Pie sat down and leaned into her Pegasus pony friend merrily. "Hiya Dashie. Did I take too long? Sorry about that; I'm usually a whole bunch quicker, but with the snake and all, my mind was on other things. Are ya ready, Rainbow Dashie?" She asked with a cheesy rhyme at the end and chuckled to herself, leaving Dash wide eyed and very confused.

"What happened? Did you even put anything in there, Pinkie?" She asked, gesturing to the bag next to the seated pony.

She responded with a look of concentration as she listed off the supplies on her fore-hooves. "Oh yeah, I got my bed sheets and my pillows… and my bed in there too." Finished with listing off what she now had in her bag, Pinkie Pie smiled back thoughtfully at the confused Pegasus pony.

Dash was staring, wide-eyed at the Earth pony. "Your whole bed?"

Pinkie closed her eyes and lifted her head up proudly. "Yep!" But just as quickly as she answered, her expression turned quizzical and she lowered her head back down to look into Dash's gorgeous rose-coloured eyes. "Hey, do you know how much I looove pillows? A lot! That's why I have so many; 'cause they're all just soo super poufy and cuddly and comfy-umfy to rest my head on them. How do you feel about pillows, Rainbow Dash?" She asked with a tilt of her head and curly, pink mane.

Ignoring the pink pony's bizarre inquiry, she kept the wide-eyed expression on her face. "But… but you were only in there for a few seconds." Her voice cracked with confusion.

"I know I'm sorry. I'm usually faster, but we've still got plenty of time to get back to your house so you can pack. I think I have another packing bag around here somewhere. Ooh, here it is!" She replied, hoofing out another bag to the Pegasus pony with a cheerful smile that could have uncurled expired milk.

Standing up awkwardly, Rainbow Dash took the bag while still holding her wide-eyed expression. "Okay… uhh, thanks." Dash turned sideways, but kept her gaze on the pink pony.

The magenta-maned pony then proceeded to jump onto Dash's back again, wrap her fore-hooves around her friend's neck and give her another biiig Pinkie Pie hug. "No problem Dash. What are bestest best friends for?" Her hold relaxed and she leaned forward to look into the newly embarrassed pony's eyes. "But Dashie, you shouldn't hold that expression for too much longer… it might get stuck like that. You wouldn't want to walk around with a wide-eyed expression on your beautiful blue face for the rest of your life. All the ponies would think you were crazy!" She raised a hoof to her muzzle to prevent her giggles from escaping.

Rainbow Dash chuckled at Pinkie's warning and happily hugged her pink friend back. _Me? Beautiful? _She thought. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Now let's get goin'!" She kicked off from the top step and zoomed out of the house, leaving a trail of rainbow colour and a reverberating shout of:

"Woooohoooo!" from Pinkie Pie.

Rainbow Dash's home wasn't as complex and confusing as Pinkie Pie's was, but her room was decorated with posters and pictures of her favourite high-flying group:

'The Wonderbolts'.

Pinkie was instantly interested in her heroes and began to rapidly ask her friend about them.

"How fast can they go? Do they ever get dizzy if they spin around really fast? What kind of trail do these ponies leave? How does my mane stay up like this all the time? And why is there tons of weird looking ponies staring at us through a little screen?" As she asked these questions, Pinkie appeared all over the room as she gestured to different pictures on the walls with Dash's eyes following swiftly after to try and keep a lock on her bouncy pink friend. As she reached her last inquiry, Pinkie Pie was staring directly into the computer screen with round, confused eyes.

As Pinkie's super-tastically odd questions ceased in record time, Dash – after a few minutes of careful thought processing – listed off her 'answers' in order. A hoof resting under her chin helped her to concentrate on what her friend had asked. "Real fast, no way, thunder, smoke, and fire, I don't know, and huh?" By now the Pegasus was accustomed to most of the pink pony's bizarre questions, but this last one was a doozy. Dash waited intently to hear what the pink pony could possibly be talking about, but she also knew that the answer would probably be just as none-sensical as the question.

The gravity defying pony just shrugged at Dash's answers. "Oh well, I guess we'll never know what makes my mane so puffy." She smiled sweetly at her Pegasus friend who eventually shrugged the unanswered question off and start packing again. This left the pink pony time to wave at the fourth wall she was currently involved in rapidly breaking down and speak to the viewing audience. "Hi weird creatures my name's Pinkie Pie. What's yours? Ooh, you must be new. 'Cause I know everypony and I mean everypony in Manehattan. And if I don't know you then you must be new and if you're new then you haven't met anypony yet and if you haven't met anypony yet then you must be lonely and that'll make me soo sad so I was thinking I'd throw you a super-duper fantabulistic party! Do you need a party? Of course you do! Wait here, I'll get one set up in a jiffy!" She went to rush off to set up the party, but was quickly interrupted from her mission by the blue Pegasus.

"Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash called over to here from inside her closet full of twenty percent more awesome stuff.

Pinkie cringed at Dash's voice and turned back to the screen with a nervous smile. "Oops. Sorry guys, but I gotta go. Dashie's calling me; maybe me and Rainbow Dash can give you strange, two legged things a party together later bye!" She winked at the screen and trotted off, saving the fourth wall from another Pinkie Pie break down.

As she reached Dash, she could plainly see how unorganised her blue pony friend was. Rainbow lifted up a collection of trophies she had won over the years at flight school and looked awkwardly at Pinkie. Pinkie Pie tutted loudly and shook her head, disappointedly. Rainbow Dash suddenly felt self-conscious and darted her eyes from left to right.

"What?" The Pegasus asked defensively.

"You Dashie! You're sooo messy. Here I'll help you." And with that, the pink pony yet again became a pink blur to Dash's eyes.

Pinkie zoomed and vroomed across the room gathering all of the poster and pictures and trophies and anything else Rainbow Dash seemed to want to keep, into their own neatly organized piles. By the end, the Pegasus pony thought she could still see three blurry images of Pinkie and an in focus one standing before her. She shook her head, opened her eyes, and there was only one pink pony again. _Phew. _

"Whoa, Pinks, that's the fastest I've ever seen you go. I'm still seein' spots of pink." Dash smiled and rubbed her slightly wobbly eyes with a fore-hoof.

Pinkie blushed and smiled. "Thanks." She turned her head down and brushed a fore-hoof of her own along the floor.

"Well, I guess we'd better get all of this stuff into your bag then." Rainbow Dash said as she looked around her room at the neatly organized piles and then back at the Premier pink party pony.

"Ooooh, done." Pinkie responded brightly, beginning to hop up and down joyfully.

"Huh?" The Pegasus pony peered around the room and saw that it was bare except for the fridge, the kitchen sink, and the bed. Dash looked as calm as ever back at Pinkie Pie. She wasn't at all shocked from this ability her pink Earth pony friend had. _She sure is different from the other ponies I've met before and I'm glad for that; in fact I love that aspect of her. Most of the ponies I meet are sticks in the mud. _Rainbow lowered her head nervously in a sudden realisation. _Did I just think the word love? _She shook that thought from her mind, but found it was much more difficult to forget than she would have liked to admit. "On second thought, that is the fastest I've seen you go." Pinkie just grinned wider at the Pegasus pony before her.

It was late by the time the two had settled down. They had unpacked some of Pinkie's treats by 'accident' and had decided that the bag was too full for them to fit them all back in, so Dash sat comfortably next to her friend and ate more of Pinkie's delicious cupcakes. Rainbow and Pinkie were quite content to sit and eat sweets close together as the time bounded by. While the two ponies ate they shared stories of there foalhood, but Pinkie mostly sat and listened intently to Dash's stories about the Wonderbolts and her high-flying tricks that would surely get her into their group.

Rainbow Dash had lost track of the time by the end of her stories and the two happily ate in silence. They both finished their last cupcake and noticed the sun going down, so they started getting ready for bed. The moon rose, shimmering and gleaming brightly over the horizon and Dash was all set to sleep in her own house again.

Rainbow Dash watched from her bed as Pinkie brought out her sleeping bag and had a sudden, embarrassing thought. Dash gulped deeply as she stared at her friend laying out the bed. "Uh, Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow's wings opened up as she called her friend's name. "You can… sleep in my bed if you want." Attention granted by the pink pony, Rainbow continued stuttering out her words. "I-It's not as comfy as your pink fluffy one, but… but there's enough room for both of us to sleep in it." Dash finished quickly and covered her muzzle with her fore-hooves loudly; her gorgeous eyes shut tight in suspense. She lowered her head to the sheets as she started to bite her bottom lip nervously. _Why did I just say that? Stupid, stupid, stupid–! _

"Okie dokey lokie!" The pink pony chimed in quickly. The Pegasus' eyes were shut so as not to see the pink pony's face in response to the awkward question, but to her Pinkie didn't seem to need much time to think it over.

The rainbow-maned pony's thought was interrupted so abruptly that all Rainbow Dash could manage was:

"You mean–" She was once again interrupted by the pink ball of fluff.

"Yep." She dragged a fore-hoof on the floor silently. "I mean the hostess always offers the guest her bed… even if the hostess still uses it." Pausing from her anxiety, Pinkie placed a hoof under her chin and sat down on her rump to wonder. "I think that's in the rules too. Although, if it was part of it, I think Granny Pie left that out." She lowered her hoof to the ground and looked off to the side, seeming to be even more baffled. "Hmm, why would Granny Pie leave a rule like that out? It seems to be a very important part of sleeping over after all." Pinkie glanced back at the pony in bed as if she could answer that befuddling question easily.

Dash chuckled at her friend's self-asked question, but still felt a bit odd at offering her bed to the Earth pony. She awkwardly waved a hoof towards herself as she spoke. "Well then… climb in."

"Okie dokey." She shook off her Granny Pie question and smiled as she looked at her friend in the bed and then down at her hooves.

As Pinkie wandered up to the right side and entered under the covers as well, the longest and most uncomfortable quiet yet came over the two ponies. They sat at opposite sides of the bed, twiddling their hooves and staring forward, unable to look at the other. After a few agonising minutes passed, they managed two words each as they slowly turned to the other and spoke in sequence.

"Goodnight Dashie."

"Goodnight Pinks."

As they smiled, they found themselves entranced by the other's gorgeously coloured eyes as the two ponies stared unblinkingly into them; unable to look anywhere else. Moments past unnoticed by the ponies, until they saw the other blushing profusely; they smiled timidly when they realised their own blush was growing. The two ponies turned just as slowly away as they had to each other and tucked themselves into the Pegasus pony's comfy bed with questioning looks on their faces. With another long silence, Pinkie began to relax under her friend's deep, blue-coloured blanket. She opened her closed blue eyes intently while still facing the opposite wall Dash was staring at.

"Rainbow Dash?" She asked, turning her head to look up at the ceiling.

Dash shuffled around in her bed and opened her own rose-coloured eyes carefully. "Yes Pinkie?"

Finding her courage, the pink Earth pony rolled over to look at Dash's side with a cheerful Pinkie Pie smile. "Thanks for letting me sleep in your bed. It's super cosy." She smiled intently at the rainbow-maned pony, waiting for her reply in the hope that the confusing feelings she now held would be answered with just one word from her bestest best friend.

The Pegasus was surprised and a little embarrassed that the pink pony had actually thought her bed was comfy. Her words made sense in her mind, but came out in a jumbled mess as she spoke to Pinkie, finding very little courage to shuffle around in her own bed at all. "N-No problem Pinks. What are bestest best friends... for?"

The two ponies didn't talk after that. They again faced away from each other and soon found themselves asleep. Neither of them dreamed anything that night.


	4. Chapter 4

"Truth was the lens by which confusion came clear."

Chapter 4

Understanding One's Self Part 1

_The streets of Manehattan were calm that night; no silly clouds were visible on the horizon and everypony was safely nestled in bed. The clouds that had been present yesterday had developed into a super dense fog; which lingered over the normally busy city, covering it with uncertainty and a yucky grey tinge that made even the pink cake-house seem less colourful. However the icky greyness couldn't enter the tall bluish-grey building, currently buffering the sound asleep Pegasus pony from the outside troublesome air. _

When the morning came, Pinkie Pie was the first to stir from the two ponies' shared slumber. Pinkie was still a bit groggy from last night's battle with the cobra, but she could feel something holding her tightly. Looking down at her stomach to see what was embracing her, she saw blue hooves rapped tenderly around her; Rainbow Dash was holding the pink pony in her hooves. Pinkie gasped and blushed deeply at what was happening. She tried to figure out why she had this new feeling of happiness when being hugged by Rainbow, but all she managed to do was smile in a kind of daze; at this moment, she was only able to think of one thing. With Dash's cyan-coloured hooves rapped warmly around her, Pinkie knew how nice it felt to have the blue pony cuddled up to her. With a deepening blush spreading across her pink face, she let herself relax in the Pegasus' warm embrace, wanting nothing more than to stay like this forever, but movement from behind her interrupted her balloon of thought. She gasped again. _Dashie, no. _

The gasp from Pinkie woke the rose-eyed Pegasus, but she didn't seem to notice what she was doing at first. When her rose-coloured eyes did focus on her bestest best friend, however, Dash soon found herself gasping, blushing, and instantly letting go of her as she pulled herself quickly out of bed. "S-Sorry Pinkie." She cantered into the bathroom; which still had its sink in place. Although the sink seemed to have been in an attempted removal, but had been given up on before it would come out properly. Rainbow Dash stared into the mirror angrily. _What is wrong with you Dash? She's your friend. Your bestest best friend. You shouldn't feel this way around her: tense and anxious all the time. _

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie called from the bedroom, breaking Dash from her scolding. Pinkie appeared at the door to the bathroom with an urgent look on her pink face. "There you are." As she walked in and stopped beside the Pegasus pony, Pinkie hesitated. "Dashie… it's okay; it was just an accident. You were asleep and–"

"No Pinkie." Dash interrupted the pink pony's speech and looked down into the sink. "It wasn't an accident. … In my dreams–" Rainbow choked up and turned her head away from Pinkie so the heat forming on her already reddened cheeks wasn't visible to her pink friend. She continued slowly, still looking away as if talking to a bathroom shower curtain instead of the pink pony's beautiful face would make it easier to speak her emotion filled mind. "I've wanted to do that for a long time now and I can't figure out why. I don't … want to know why." She paused, turned away from the sink, and gazed into Pinkie's round blue eyes with an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Whenever I'm around you I… I get this feeling; like if I didn't show you or tell you how I felt every moment I was with you… I would pop… like a balloon filled with too much stuff." She chuckled horsely, trying to ease her anxiety with something Pinkie Pie said, but that only succeeded in making her feel worse. She lowered her beautiful eyes away from the pink pony and let them float to the ground.

_With a city such as boring old Manehattan, the buildings in it would be called anything but colourful. The houses of the bustling city were the same as the ponies themselves: grey, dull, boring, un-fun. But something about this particular house seemed different; different enough to know that even if you stared at the floor, the floor would be just colourful enough to gain a smile on anypony's face. _

Pinkie noticed the Pegasus' trouble and walked forward uneasily, trying to comfort her friend. "Dash, it's fine. I don't–"

"Forget it Pinkie… i-it's not important." She turned away from the sink and walked beside the pink pony, facing the door to her bedroom while Pinkie still stared at where her friend had looked at her a moment ago. "We've gotta get ready for the move to Ponyville, right?" Dash tried to sound excited, but it felt like such a lie to her that she wanted to crawl back into bed and forget what she had said.

"Y-Yeah. I'll get our bags." The pink pony's dejected reply broke Dash's already shattered heart even more, but she couldn't find anything comforting to say to the Earth pony next to her.

The two stood frozen in place for a while until Pinkie Pie sniffed a little. This gained a concerned look in the Pegasus pony's eyes. "Pinkie?" No answer came from the pink pony as she turned and walked out sadly, with her head drooped in regret. Rainbow remained there; unable to see anything but the saddened look on her bestest best friend's face in her mind.

As Pinkie Pie moved from the bathroom and back into the bedroom to get the bags, she noticed a drawing of the Wonderbolts that she had missed. It was a crudely drawn picture of the three ponies and a fourth one flying in front of them. They all had a Wonderbolts uniforms on, but the blue pony had a cloud mark with a rainbow-coloured lightning bolt adorned on the flank of her uniform. At the bottom of the picture was written in blue crayon:

'Me with the Wonderbolts'.

A smile bounced onto Pinkie Pie's face, making her forget all the awkward moments the two ponies shared and stood motionless and happy. She stared kindly at the picture with a glazed look in her eyes until she heard Dash stepping out of the bathroom. Shoving the picture deep into a sattlebag, Pinkie whipped around and smiled largely at her bestest best friend. "Hiya Dashie! Ready to go?"

Rainbow looked confusedly at her friend's quickly brightened demeanour. She tilted her head to the side with her mane following swiftly. An equally confused eyebrow rose as an answer before the Pegasus pony replied. "Uh, sure… Pinkie."

Exiting the bluish-grey house, Dash turned back to lock up one last time; this gave Pinkie the time she needed to think about her discovery. _How long has Dash actually wanted to be a Wonderbolt? _She thought. The drawing looked like it was made when she was a little filly. A small smile bounded through her pink face and she looked towards her Pegasus friend. _She looked sooo cute in that picture. She even had her cutie-mark drawn on her uniform. _Pinkie's eyes shifted to stare at Rainbow's cutie-mark, but she shook her head and turned away. _Not this again. Silly feelings… go away! _She patted the side of her head with a hoof as if doing so would rid her of the energetic thoughts that raced around her mind and the deep red blush forming across her cheeks.

Before she could think anymore, Dash turned back around to face the pink pony and spoke solemnly to her friend. "Ready?"

Pinkie turned back to stare awkwardly into Rainbow's eyes, afraid to look anywhere else. All the pink Earth pony could do was nod and hope that the blush on her bright pink face had disappeared.

The two ponies began to walk along the busy streets silently, not taking much notice of the other residents wandering around. A few stopped to stare at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, but they had too much on their minds already to worry about them.

_The ponies of Manehattan had a certain dull way of looking at the other residents. They seemed to have perfected 'the stare' to the extent that if one stared at somepony with a weak ability to lie, the Manehattanite would be able to force the truth out of the starie, or is it stariess? … Stariet? Oh, the pony that was being stared at! It was the sort of dull stare you'd expect from a large city that abhorred parties and candies and streamers and… and fun. But that didn't matter; there was always fun and joy to be found somewhere, even in a boring-as-hay city. _

The two ponies felt rather uncomfortable with each other as they slowly walked through the streets of Manehattan. Dash kept glancing at the pink pony for any indication of sadness bouncing across her normally bright pink face, but Pinkie Pie only stared down at the ground with a calm look and tons and tons of thoughts troubling her already very befuddled mind; she refused to look anywhere else. She was even quieter than when Rainbow first met her; which didn't make Dash feel very good.

Thinking about what the curly-maned pony could be thinking at this moment unsettled Rainbow considerably. _What do I do? How can I help her… without… without seeming–? _She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought. She closed her eyes tightly and turned her head away, angry towards herself and towards the confusing feelings she held. _Urgh, stupid feelings… go away! _A thought struck Rainbow's mind; a thought that she didn't want to accept at first, but it kept returning... to tell her mind... 'say it'. And no matter how many times she fought to forget them, her thoughts continued until she wanted to speak those words more and more. She turned her head nervously to look at Pinkie again. _Now the only problem is… _She gulped. _Saying it to Pinkie Pie. _

She wanted to say it; she wanted to understand her friend and herself, but whenever Rainbow Dash attempted to cheer Pinkie up, she would choke up on her words before they even had a chance of forming on her lips. The Pegasus pony also struggled to keep up with the pink pony for a looong while; pushing through the crowds that appeared to swarm past her, but it seemed like every few steps a pony would walk by and prevent her from walking alongside her usually cheery friend to say anything while Pinkie walked on unhindered.

It was early in the morning, the crowds of ponies heading for work and going about their dull business. So the streets were quite packed with ponies at this time; which upset Dash considerably. She had never been up this early before, so she didn't know what it was like. Now that she did; however, she didn't like it one bit. But the crowds of Manehattanites grew less and less as the morning hoof-hour grinded to a halt and Pinkie and Rainbow were allowed to walk flank-to-flank again. Rainbow had long since lost the courage to ask Pinkie Pie her question and adopted a silent gaze at the Everfree Forest just outside the city. _I wish… I could be back there. _She turned her head to look again at her unbouncy pink party friend with anxious eyes.

As they continued silently through the streets and out of the city a collection of ponies from Manehattan caught on to what the two were doing and began following them to the border of the grey-oriented city. And as the two walked down the street and out onto the road, cheers rang through the city; confetti and streamers burst from cans in pony's hooves and a parade of ponies began behind them until they reached the outside of Manehattan. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash continued to feel uncomfortable the entire time; in fact, they were so nervous about looking at each other now they didn't even notice the pony parade or the streamers or the confetti raining down on them. All the two worried about was the pony beside them. When the crowd dispersed, Pinkie and Rainbow were long gone from their sight and the ponies went back to their boring office jobs like nothing had happened that minute.

Normally one of the two ponies would offer to give the other a lift, but as they walked along the dirt roads to Ponyville, the two said nothing. They didn't even glance at each other anymore, on fear of feeling more confusing emotions inside them. It didn't prevent their thoughts from entering their minds, however, as Dash wondered how the pink pony had taken her outburst and Pinkie wondered why she couldn't shake the thought of the morning hug she had received from the blue pony.

As they neared the border of Ponyville, Pinkie Pie stopped. Dash didn't seem to notice until she was a few hooves ahead of the Earth pony. She looked back over her shoulder worriedly when no pink pony was walking next to her and saw Pinkie with her head hanging down and her curly pink mane covering it. Given that Pinkie's mood is a difficult one to track; Rainbow Dash didn't know whether to be sad or happy about her friend sitting away from her. After all, she could just be setting up a huge 'surprise welcome to Ponyville' party for the both of them when they passed into the small town to try and cheer them both up. However, something about this made Dash feel uneasy. She slowly turned and trotted back over to the seated pony.

Before the Pegasus pony could open her mouth to ask what the problem was, Pinkie spoke. "Rainbow Dash?"

"Yes Pinkie?" The words just slipped out of her mouth, like they had always been spoken. Dash was more than a little stunned to hear her name in such a sad tone being spoken from the pink pony's lips; she stopped abruptly and lifted a fore-hoof in concern.

"I have that feeling too." Pinkie replied quietly, forcing her head up to finally look at the rainbow-maned pony.

Still a bit stunned and now confused as to what the Earth pony had said, her one liners continued. "Huh?"

"What you said back at your house; I kinda feel the same." The pink pony spoke immediately as if hoping that her friend would ask, so she could explain her answer more clearly to the Pegasus pony. "Whenever I'm around you, I feel… happy and confused… and anxious and… scared and bouncy and a buncha other weird stuff all at once." Her eyes began to glisten, but no tears came to her round blue eyes. She gulped and took a deep breath to collect her thoughts; which lay scattered across her bouncy mind. She looked back into Rainbow's gorgeous rose-coloured eyes for inspiration and continued to speak her mind. "I've really tried to figure out these feelings for a long time, like in the Everfree Forest, but no matter how much I try to understand… I… can't. It must be one odd Pinkie sense." She stared down at the dirt path and kicked some mud to the side with a shaky hoof.

Dash looked down at the pink pony for a while before replying to her friend. "Pinkie…" She began slowly. Rainbow sighed and stared down at the ground in front of Pinkie Pie. "I don't think it's a part of your Pinkie sense if I have the same feeling." She turned to face Ponyville and walked a few hooves away from her friend. "I just… don't get it."

Pinkie immediately looked worried when she saw her friend leaving and jumped up in fear. "Dashie!" This seemed to get the Pegasus' attention; she stopped walking, but she didn't turn around to face her. Pinkie trotted up to meet her blue friend with a calming tone, very peculiar for the Earth pony, accompanying her gentle voice. "I–It's okay. I know it's confusing, so you don't have to say anything. Let's just forget about it… okay? Please, Dashie?" She bounced in front of Rainbow and stared frantically into the Pegasus' tender rose-coloured eyes, hoping that she would hear the answer she was searching soo hard for.

Seeing her pink friend's trembling face and pleading blue eyes was too much for the Pegasus. Rainbow Dash glanced to the side to avoid looking her in the eyes before answering. "I don't think I can forget it. I've tried so hard, but…" The thought came to her mind again, and this time she didn't care what it meant. She needed to know what these feelings meant to her… and to Pinkie Pie.

The Earth pony only became more desperate with Dash's reaction and she tried to salvage the conversation… and their friendship. Pinkie sat down in front of her blue friend and put a pink fore-hoof over Dash's. "But we're still bestest best friends, r-right Rainbow Dash?" With a tender hoof on hers, Dash felt warmth spreading all over her again and she gazed into Pinkie's eyes, never dreaming to look away. With Rainbow's tender gaze on her alone, Pinkie's cheeks started to redden and she quickly removed her hoof from Dash's, turning her head to look at Ponyville in the distance. "A-And when we get to Ponyville we can split up and t-think about all this–"

"Pinkie?" The Pegasus pony lowered her head slightly but still stared in Pinkie Pie's direction uncomfortably.

This caught Pinkie off guard and she replied apprehensively, turning her head back to hear her friend better. "Y-Yes Rainbow Dash?"

Dash raised her head back to meet eye contact with the Premier pink party pony and gazed pleadingly into her deep-blue eyes, as if her entire life was poured into this one question. "Would you go out with me sometime?"

"Uh… uhhh…" _Yes. _A voice rang out. Her beautiful blue eyes had locked on to the Pegasus' rose-coloured ones, frantically searching for why she would ask that and how she should respond. The answer she came to in her Pinkie Pie mind only scared her more and she couldn't bring herself to speak, because she knew if she tried to only one word would manage to escape her lips. The voice spoke again, louder this time. _Say it. Say it! _She broke eye contact and gazed down at the dirt path. _I can't! _Tears made themselves known in the pink pony's eyes, but she blinked them back.

Seeing the Earth pony's apprehension to answer, she regretted saying those seven words to her bestest best friend and interrupted Pinkie's thought process. "You don't have to give me an answer right away. We can just find a house to unpack our stuff in and then…" She stopped herself from going on with how it sounded and looked at the tense pony in front of her.

Her eyes were still closed and her head was tilted away slightly. "I can't."

Rainbow stepped forward trying to reason with the pony. "Pinkie please–" But she was prevented from speaking further.

"I need some time to think Dashie; think about us." Her head never shifted from the ground in front of her, afraid of Dash's certainly heart-broken expression. She spoke slowly and more than a little regretfully to her bestest best friend. "Ponyville's just ahead; there must be tons of cloud homes there… so you'll have no trouble finding a place to sleep tonight, but me… I need to be alone for a while." She tried to speak with a spring in her hoof she no longer had, but she managed it for Rainbow Dash.

Dash gulped hard and tried to hold back tears that began forming on the edges of her beautiful eyes. She angrily shook them off as she answered Pinkie tensely. "Of course Pinkie. I'll see you later then." She slowly turned away from the pink pony, but glanced over her shoulder at her with glossy eyes when her pink friend spoke again.

"Thanks for understanding Dash." Her curly magenta-mane blocked Dash from seeing her expression, but the Pegasus pony was already hidden behind the disappointment and heart-break she felt from Pinkie's response – a feeling now she desperately wanted to understand – to know that the pink pony wanted to say "Yes", but wouldn't allow herself to because it might break up their friendship. Because of the new bizarre feelings she now felt from Pinkie's rejection, Rainbow became flustered and began stepping back angrily with her wings spread wide.

"Oh, I understand more than that; I completely get where you're coming from… I get it." She spoke those last words quietly, as if to herself, and kicked off towards the small town, leaving the confused pink pony to stare ahead at her equally baffle-minded friend.

At those last spoken words, Pinkie stared up at the sky where her friend was now soaring angrily through on her way to Ponyville. "Dashie…"

As Rainbow Dash flew quickly into town, she saw the small houses and shops placed all around the square and began to regret yelling at the pink pony. _I'm sorry Pinkie Pie, it's my fault. I started all this, but I don't know how I'm supposed to fix it. I'm so confused. I like Pinkie… more than I think I should and I can't tell her. It'd ruin our friendship… I just met her… What if she doesn't like me the same way? She always seemed so awkward around me, but what if she's just… being Pinkie Pie… and I ask her and she gets all upset and never wants to see me again? _Dash suddenly glared up at the sky angrily. "And why aren't there any cloud-homes around here? Tons of clouds, but nowhere for Pegasi like me to live in! What's the deal?"

She was correct; no cloud-homes could be seen over the small town of Ponyville. There were a large amount of them in Cloudsdale and Manehattan was more of a city for Earth and Unicorn ponies, but this small open town had quite a few Pegasi flying around and to Rainbow Dash there weren't any places for them to sleep. So she thought. _Guess I'll just have to make my own house. Yeah, that'll get my mind off things. _

While Dash began building her own home, Pinkie Pie wandered along the road absentmindedly as she continued to struggle with the feelings she has towards the Pegasus pony. _Why do I feel this way? Why do I feel this way about my bestest best friend? I just met her a few days ago and now– _

A loud kicking noise, following swiftly by many thumping noises, was heard from close by and Pinkie tried to find the source. She ran through trees populated by apples and eventually found herself in a clearing. The kicking and thudding continued undeterred by the pink pony's sudden presence.

"Yeeha!" A Southern accented pony's voice rang loudly through Pinkie Pie's ears, taking her confused heart away from the confusing thoughts that confusedly replayed itself throughout her confusingly Pinkie Pie mind; confusing isn't it? This was followed by yet another plethora of noises and thuds and Pinkie saw the cause of the commotion. A blonde-maned cowgirl Earth pony could be seen running up to kick a tree – a few hooves away from the pink pony – with three baskets underneath ready to catch the falling apples. "Well howdy there pardner. What can ah do ya fer?" She asked as she noticed the stunned pony in front of her.

Pinkie Pie's glistening blue eyes met with the cowgirl pony's kind green ones, but dropped to the floor when she saw how worried the pony began to look. "I… I…"

The brown pony stepped forward, concern for the glossy-eyed pony before her growing. "You alright sugarcube? You sure seem worried 'bout somethin'."

Pinkie's head shot up with a tense look on her pink face as she smiled as best she could. "There's nothing wrong, I'm fine. Perfectly perfect all the way around. I'm just as…" She sighed, lost her cheerful momentum, and glanced back down at the floor. "Bouncy as ever." She tried to sound happy, but the teary round eyes she wore with shame – trapped in deep thought, still searching for an answer to the question posed by the pink pony – betrayed her.

"Nah don'tcha lie to me. I wasn't born yesterday and ya'll missy are worried somethin' fierce." She took a few more steps forward and looked caringly into the lowered eyes of Pinkie Pie.

Her head was still tilted to the grassy floor, but her blue eyes met the gaze of the cowgirl pony. "Well, there's this pony… and I might… actually–" She began, but was interrupted by the Southern accented pony.

"Ah see, colt trouble is it?" The cowgirl Earth pony raised her sweat-soaked face up to the sky, proud of figuring out what the problem was.

Pinkie looked confused and a little embarrassed at the quick question, but shook it off just as quickly. "Well, sort of. Hmm." She sat her rump down with a hoof to her chin as she attempted to think of how to explain her teensy-weensy problem to the brown pony.  
She saw the pink pony's eyes become thoughtful and she looked quizzically at Pinkie Pie, hoping to bring the answer out of the fluff ball faster. "What're you tawkin' about Pinks? How can tha' sorta be it?"

The pink Earth pony gave up trying to figure out where to start and shrugged her shoulders hugely. She decided to answer the questions as they came. "I'm not sure. I don't actually know how I feel towards this pony. But whenever I'm near this pony… I get a funny fuzzy feeling inside me and I can't think about anything else." A slight smile appeared on her face and her sadness seemed to fade away as she spoke from her Pinkie heart.

"So, this here pony… is a friend ah yers?" She asked as she tilted her head from the left to the right, trying to figure out the pony's position.

Pinkie Pie nodded while looking down at the ground. "Bestest best friend. The only true friend I've ever had and these feelings are pushing us away from each other. My heart wants me to throw a party for having these feelings, but my mind is telling me to forget them and this pony. I don't know what to do. I don't wanna forget."

Pinkie looked towards the brown pony staring back at her motherly, waiting attentively for an answer from the cowgirl. "H'ah seriously doubt that; 'specially the whole 'only got one friend' thing. And the 'heart and mind' stuff ah don' really get, but ah do know one thing."

"Yeah?" She asked hopefully.

No hesitation showed on the Earth pony's sweaty, sun-tanned face as she threw her head up proudly once again with the pink pony's long awaited answer. "You mah friend are in love."

The smile she now wore dropped off completely and a look of shock and distress replaced it. "L-Love? No I can't be. I just can't!" She got up and took a few steps back, shaking her pink head with her magenta-coloured mane following swiftly after.

That wasn't the kind of response the brown pony was expecting. It was rather odd to her. "Simmer down sally; it ain't that big a deal–"

"Yes it is! She's my bestest best friend in all of Equestria and I love her!" Her yell surprised the blonde-maned pony and she took a few steps backward before realising what Pinkie had said to her.

"Her?" _She was tawkin' 'bout a mare this whole time? That's embarrassin', but that's not important right now; right now she needs somepony to understand her. _"Come 'ere sugarcube." The blonde-maned pony took the crying pony in her hooves. _She needs a friend right now. _

As the day and pink pony's tears drew on, the cowgirl pony managed to bring Pinkie into her family's barn. Sitting down on a bale of hay, Pinkie managed to dry her tears; however, the new thoughts and newly understood feelings still bounced around in her pink mind. The other pony sat uncomfortably on the bale opposite her. For a while the two ponies sat in silence, except for faint sniffles coming from Pinkie.

But just as surprisingly as she had burst into tears the pink pony showed a very odd, but very Pinkie Pie style mood change as she leapt off her hay bale, and bounced to the Earth pony. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! Sorry I was so sad earlier, I was super-duper confused by all these feelings I've been feeling forever and I was just soo scared to tell anypony about them, but that's not a problem anymore 'cause I told you…" She gasped suddenly and stopped bouncing to look at the pony on level hay. "And I don't even know your name yet!"

The intense stare from Pinkie made Applejack uncomfortable, as if the pink pony was staring into the cowgirl pony's soul. After a couple seconds of rushed thinking, the pony smiled as her mind registered all that Pinkie Pie had said. "Ya didn' let me tell ya mah name yet. Hi Pinkie, it's a pleasure to make yer acquaintance… mah name's Applejack." _Pinkie Pie, _She thought. _Can't believe ah didn't think o' that before; guess the name ah used earlier was more accurate than ah thought. _

The pink Earth pony tilted her head to the side quizzically. "Ooh, Applejack. That's a nice name. Well Applejack," She paused to giggle at the 'accurate to what the pony was doing' name and continued with what she was asking. "Didja really mean what you said about being my friend?"

She nodded with a bright smile. "O' course Pinkie Pie." _And she sure knows how ta tawk too. _She thought.

Pinkie gasped even louder and started bouncing about the barn uncontrollably, with a smile on her face three times as large as Applejack's. "Yay! I have another friend; this is all thanks to her: my bestest best friend forever in all of Equestria." She stopped bouncing and put a hoof on Applejack's shoulder with a suddenly strict look on her face. "You can't never ever tell her Applejack, promise me you won't."

With the stare back to make the cowgirl pony tense up again, she nervously answered the pink pony invading her personal space just a tad. "Relax sugarcube. Ah ain't no blabber mouth." She held a hoof up into the air and closed her green eyes. "Ah promise ah won' tell 'er…" She opened her eyes when she thought of something. "Ah don' even know 'er name… and ya don' have ta say it neither, but when ya do get the chance ta tell 'er how ya feel… you better come 'n' let me know how she loved ya twice as much back. 'Kay sugarcube?" She winked at the Earth pony with another honest smile on her face.

"Got it." She answered, closing her eyes with a happy giggle.

Applejack chuckled back at the pink pony's rapidly changing demeanour and remembered that she was behind schedule with her work. "Nah before ah get back ta mah apple buckin', ah was jus' wonderin' where it is yer from."

Pinkie answered quickly as if she had expected the question. "Oh I'm not really from anywhere right now, but I moved from Manehattan yesterday and was looking for Ponyville, but then I started getting these bizarrie-warrie weird feelings in my stomach when around my bestest best friend as we walked to the town and then I stayed behind as she went on ahead of me and I came here to meet you and now we're here in your barn and now we're talking." Her grin never faltered as she spoke the one looong sentence to her obviously stunned friend.

"Oh." Was all she managed to say after hearing the pink pony's long-winded speech.

Before either of the ponies could respond, Pinkie's tail started twitching wildly. She took it in her fore-hooves and brought it up to her thoughtful blue eyes. "Hmm, twitchie-twitch-a-twitch-a-twitch–!" She gasped and jumped forwards at the cowgirl pony. "Look out!" Applejack, unable to do anything else, was tackled to the ground and away from the ceiling where a piano came crashing down through it.

Outside the barn, a Pegasi crew had been delivering mail to Sweet Apple Acres and a cross-eyed mailmare looked – well sorta looked – at the driver with a very embarrassed expression on her grey face.

Pinkie looked unfazed by the sudden obstacle in the barn and glanced down at Applejack to continue speaking calmly and sweetly. "Yeah, so I need a house to sleep in quick before it gets too dark out there." _I'm sure she can help me find a fun place to stay. _She thought with a quizzical expression towards her friend. _Ooh, maybe there's a house almost as colourful-wolourful as the one in Manehattan. _She began to bounce up and down again, hopeful.

Applejack stared slack-jawed at the collapsed piano. "Wha? What was that?"

"Hmm?" Pinkie replied, still bouncing up and down joyously.

Applejack shook her head and stood up impatiently. "Landsakes Pinkie, you just saved me from bein' crushed by a piano!" She gestured over to the pile of wood and keys with a slightly shaky, but grateful for not being squashed, fore-hoof.

Pinkie looked to where the brown pony was pointing to and immediately understood. "Oh yeah, silly me, that's my Pinkie sense." She stopped bouncing and smiled warmly at her Earth pony friend.

The cowgirl pony proceeded to tilt her head to one side and rub a fore-hoof through her blonde-coloured mane in confusion. "Pinkie what?"

"I'll explain along the way, 'cause I'm sure to get lots more meekly feelings today, but I need to find a place to sleep first." Pinkie jumped up and made a play bow in front of Applejack, with her fore-hooves spread out. "Can ya help me Applejack? Pretty please with cupcakes on top… and icing… oh, and sprinkles–! Darn, now I'm hungry."

The brown Earth pony blink several times at what Pinkie had said, but she decided to forget about that right then. Somepony needed her help and she wasn't the type of pony to let another pony down, even if that pony is a teensy-weensy bit strange.

"Alright alright I'll help ya. Hmm." Applejack placed a hoof under her chin and followed her bouncy friend with her green eyes for a few minutes while she thought of any vacancies available in town. Looking downcast after a few moments, she dropped her hoof back down and spoke. "Yeah, it's gettin' late and ah'm not real sure what houses are still up fer grabs– Wait a minute!" Her expression hardened as she remembered something that had happened recently to her cowpony knowledge. She locked eyes with her new pink friend as Pinkie kept bouncing in place happily. "It jus' so happens that ah know the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner are lookin' fer a helpin' hoof around their sweet's shop."

Pinkie Pie had stopped jumping at the word 'cake'. "You had me at 'Cakes'. Mmm cake." She licked her lips rapidly and giggled to herself and at the cowgirl pony's expression once she was finished.

Applejack's head tilted to the side, seeming to be worried about the pink Earth pony's baking skills… and the whole cake thing too. "Are ya good at that kinda thing?"

Pinkie looked hurt for a moment; she sat down and put a fore-hoof to her chest in pretend shock. "Am I good?" Her act was broken quite easily as she started to giggle at her attempt at feeling hurt and continued ecstatically. "I live for cakes and muffins and cupcakes and anything else super-tastically tasterifical and sweet." She held back giggles both at her made-up words and the look Applejack gave her for them soon afterwards.

Her baffled look didn't change at the pink pony's laughter. "… So… that a maybe?"

Pinkie Pie raised a hoof up as she answered. "Of course it's a 'yes' silly… Misses Applejack." She winked at the brown-coloured Earth pony.

"Well alright then, but ya can drop the 'misses' stuff. The way ah look at it, tawkin' like that is jus' wasted time that could be spent apple buckin'." She began to walk to the door with the pink pony bounding swiftly after her. "So, ah'll show ya where ta go and maybe after that ah can show ya ta mah friends. And then ya can explain the whole Pinkie sense thing too." She chuckled and glanced to the side to await the pink Earth pony's response.

Pinkie had caught up and bounced beside the cowgirl pony to keep in time with her friend's pace. "Sounds good to me, I'd love that. But Applejack, are you sure they want a pink party pony for a helping hoof?" Her cheerful attitude lowered just slightly, but the blonde-maned pony picked up on it.

She glanced to the side at Pinkie Pie with a sly smirk. "'Cause the pony that was their last helpin' hoof jus' about blew up the shop after puttin' waaay too much bakin' soda instead o' jus' enough bakin' powder inta a cake."

The pink Earth pony's slightly lowered grin turned into a mass of muffled giggles at the thought of seeing something like that happening before her. "Whoa, that musta made a huge mess. I wish I coulda been there to see it; I've never ever had cake made with baking soda before." Pinkie paused her response to think for a moment, but turned back to the Earth pony with a very good question. "Do you think it'd be wet, Applejack?"

The brown Earth pony couldn't help but laugh at her friend's bizarre, but valid question. "Good one Pinkie. Yeah, poor Caramel hasn' got a job anywhere in town since that little… inc-ee-dent."

"Oh Applejack, you're such a great and funny friend to have. Especially with that… funny accent you got there, pardner." She nudged the Earth pony's shoulder with a joyful giggle.

The brown Earth pony seemed to have a permanent smirk plastered on her face as she replied. "Har har, very funny… miss party pony."

"Haaah!" Pinkie stopped and placed a fore-hoof on Applejack's muzzle triumphantly. "You said… 'miss'!" With that, she collapsed to the ground and burst into laughter as she held her sides together.

Applejack stopped, unable to reply. She dropped her smirk and her head to look down at the squirming pony. "Ah shoot, yer right. Ya big city ponies always have an instant effect on meh."

Pinkie ceased laughing when she realised something quite important to her, bounced up onto her hoovsies, and started bouncing ahead to the barn's large front door. When she didn't hear accompanying hoof steps behind her, she glanced back at her new friend. "Come on Applejack, we gotta get there fast so the other ponies don't get all the cake… oh and the job too!"

"Right behind ya, Pinks." She shouted ahead and began in a trot to catch up to the bouncy pink pony.

Pinkie stopped at the door and blocked Applejack from exiting when she had caught up.

"What's the matter Pinkie Pie?" She said quizzically as she pushed the pink pony's hoof down to see better outside.

Pinkie scratched her itchy nose and nervously pointed outside as a swarm of meanie-pants type bees flew by. Once they had left, to the relief of Applejack, Pinkie leapt from the barn and spoke happily as she bounded forward. "An itchy nose means an angry swarm of bees are nearby. They can be real mean sometimes too."

Applejack was again dumbstruck by the Earth pony's bizarre comment, but she quickly shook the thoughts of Pinkie predicting such things from her mind. _Ah'm sure it's just a coincidence. Nopony can predict that sorta stuff, right? _A few stray bees flew past Applejack, making her flinch quickly. _Heh, or maybe not. _Reluctantly, the brown Earth pony cantered off to catch up with the bouncing pink pony.

Applejack lead Pinkie into Ponyville while listening to adventures she had gone on with the Pegasus pony, such as the pranking and the partying; however, some parts she left out and while that happened her Pinkie sense acted up. Applejack began hiding behind and under things to escape what Pinkie had predicted, such as things falling from the sky (not always being rain from the clouds mind you). This, added with Pinkie Pie stopping quite a bit to converse with the ponies of Ponyville, made the trip all the more long, but the pink pony didn't even seem to notice. The cowgirl pony leading her, however, did. "Hurry up Pinkie." She yelled to the pony. "We gotta get you a house before it gets dark remember?"

"Oops, sorry guys, gotta go. Coming Applejack!" Pinkie answered and raced off towards her friend again.

As Dash finished her cloud house, she felt exhausted; she quickly made a couch out of a nearby cirrus cloud, and flopped onto it. "Phew, that was a lotta work; maybe I should reconsider being a Pegasus pony. The rainbow river was especially difficult to perfect. I can't believe it's so hard to form a rainbow after a cloud burst and turn it into its liquid form; you've gotta get all the colours just right and organized or the light won't catch and the whole thing'll be ruined." She sat up angrily on her couch, causing it to hover for a few seconds before relaxing and settling down to the other clouds. This allowed Dash to hang her hooves over the edge. "What am I talking about? Why do I care so much about rainbows? It's made up of seven different colours; seven stupid colours. It's not like it's… pink." Something had caught her eye as she got up and cantered over to her cloud window to look out at the street below. She saw a pink pony and a brown pony walking down the dirt path in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, the sweet's shop just behind her own home. She flew out of the window to land just on the edge of her cloud home to see the ponies walking together. "Pinkie Pie? Wha– What is she doing with another pony? Who is she?" She suddenly felt angry towards the brown pony. "What is she doing with _my _Pinkie Pie–?" Rainbow Dash gasped and closed her eyes. _What am I talking about? _She felt a sudden heat in her cheeks and her eyes opened. "I'm flushed? Why am I flushed?" She glanced back and noticed how happy the pink pony looked with the cowgirl pony; she felt anger welling up inside her again and heat spreading through her body. "Because of Pinkie Pie, who else?" She glared at the bouncing pink pony. "She said she needed some time alone and now she's hanging out with some other pony? Am I not good enough for her to share her feelings with? And what makes her so awesome anyway?" She was just about to react to what she saw and thought and felt inside; however, a huge group of Pegasi had gathered above her.

"Whoa, it really is her." One whispered.

"It's Rainbow Dash!" Another cried.

A third yelled. "I can't believe it!"

One of the Pegasi flew down beside the blue pony. "Hey Rainbow Dash, is it true that you did a Sonic Rainboom?"

"Yeah and how fast do you have to go to make one?" Another pony added as she stopped and hovered just above Dash.

The rainbow-maned Pegasus pony lost her intense gaze on Pinkie and suddenly looked miserable. "Girls please… I'm not in the mood okay?" Her eyes didn't shift from the pink Earth pony walking along as another Pegasus pony flew up to the others.

"There you girls are; back to your cloud clearing. Shoo shoo!" The pony had her hooves on her hips and a heated look on her face. The ponies looked away and mumbled irritably to each other. As the Pegasus ponies regretfully flew off, the deep blue Pegasus with a rain cloud cutie mark looked back at Dash. "Sorry about that." She scratched at the back of her neck inattentively and shrugged. "All of the Pegasi here have heard of your famous technique and are trying to figure out how it works."

Rainbow Dash's head only tilted slightly to the side to glance at the deep-blue pony. "It's okay." She replied with a sadness in her voice that she hated to be reminded of. "Thanks for your help." She tilted her head back towards the ground slowly.

"It was no trouble. My name's Cloudkicker." The Pegasus pony tilted her head as Dash continued staring over the edge of her cloud home. She ignored it and sat down next to Rainbow. "You know, me and the other Pegasus ponies have been thinking that we need a captain. Somepony that's fast and agile and can clear the clouds like nopony's business." She lifted a hoof up towards the pony beside her. "And after seeing that display of cloud _making _expertise I'd say all the girls, myself included, have decided that it should be you Dashie–"

Dash sharply spun around at the seated Pegasus pony angrily. "Don't call me that!" She glared up at Cloudkicker until she saw the look of fear on her face. She felt suddenly terrible for yelling at a pony she had just met for a feeling she didn't even understand. The yell had surprised Cloudkicker into the air and she hovered there, startled at the Pegasus' extreme mood swing. Dash's rose-coloured eyes dropped their gaze and they looked down at the cloud she was seated on. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just that… only my bestest best friend has ever called me that… It just felt so strange coming from you." She looked back down to see the pink pony had gone; she sighed. The deep-blue Pegasus pony smiled gently as she came to understand the situation.

"That's okay Dash. Hey, who're you looking at?" She asked trying to pinpoint where she was looking and was startled again when Rainbow's head shot up again, but nervously this time.

"I-I wasn't staring at anypony!" She answered, staring at the Pegasus pony with widened eyes and a slight blush. Cloudkicker's eyebrow rose and Dash gulped. "Well I was… just looking at all the lazy ponies walking around casually while we worked our rumps off to keep the sky clear." She chuckled awkwardly as Cloudkicker adopted a sly smirk, knowingly.

The airborne pony wasn't convinced and she smiled down at the rainbow-maned pony with eyes that spoke of her lie. "Dash I might not be Applejack, but I can still tell when somepony's lying."

Rainbow sighed at her failed cover-up and looked into the pony's blue-grey eyes. "I'm sorry Cloudkicker, but… I think I just need some time to think."

The sudden look Dash gave her melted the Pegasus' heart and she agreed to leave her be. "Alright then… but about the captain position?" She looked back over her shoulder as she turned to fly off.

"I'll think about it." She answered with her best fake smile.

"Great. See ya later then!" She flew off, leaving the blue pony alone again.

As Cloudkicker flew away an idea struck her. _Hey, weren't the Wonderbolts coming to Ponyville later this month? I have some pretty good relations with the ponies in Cloudsdale; maybe I can pull some strings and get them done here sooner. _She turned her head back to Rainbow's cloud home and saw that the Pegasus pony had gone inside her own hoof-made home. _Rainbow Dash just seemed so down about something and Spitfire always said the team needed a new member when I spoke to her. I'm sure with her skills the Wonderbolts will want Dash on their team immediately. That'll cheer her up no problem. _With that, she blasted off to her home to prepare for tomorrow. She had fliers to hoof out and letters to mail.

As Rainbow crawled into her cumulous cloud bed, she could only think of one thing. This night would be the first one Rainbow and Pinkie spent apart since the day they met. And to Dash, more bizarre and confusing thoughts came along with that then the nights they spent together ever had. She wanted the little pony back.


	5. Chapter 5

"Truth was beauty."

Chapter 5

Understanding One's Self Part 2

_Ponyville was sound asleep. It definitely wasn't a biiig city like Manehattan was and everypony knew everypony else super well. The skies were clear of clouds that night; no mist or fog or cumulonimbus clouds could be seen for miles, most likely the work of the Pegasi of the small town. There was no reason for these ponies to be awake so late at night, so all of the Ponyville ponies were nestled in bed with sweet dreams in their minds; all except for a cyan-coloured Pegasus pony, whose mind was clouded over with scary thoughts throughout the night._

In the morning both ponies awoke groggily and sore all over; even Rainbow Dash who had made her pillow from the softest cumulous clouds around felt as though she had slept on a very uncomfortable rock the whole night. Dash had been lying awake in bed, not wanting to get out because of some fluffy and pink thoughts that had presented themselves to her while sleeping, when a knock could be heard on the front door. The Pegasus didn't answer, but the pony that the knocking hoof was attached to flew in through the cloud door anyway – cloud doors with locks on them were difficult to come by and Rainbow Dash was just too lazy to make her own. It was Cloudkicker of all ponies, and she seemed rather excited about something.

Rainbow put a hoof over her eyes to protect them from the early morning light of the sun; which had swooped in the front door along with the grinning deep-blue Pegasus pony. "Ugh, Cloudkicker?" Dash groaned and sat up with a sort of sadness Cloudkicker couldn't place. "What are you doing in my house?" Feeling a sudden pain in her rump from the restless night, she placed a tender hoof on the sore spot and turned her head to her make-shift alarm-clock – which had surprisingly never been set to alarm her to get up. She looked back at Cloudkicker with an eyebrow raised half in confusion and half in anger. "At such an early hour?"

_In a town such as Ponyville, everypony was up super early. It was a biiig change from Manehattan, where all of the ponies work from dawn 'til dusk and back again… and without even enjoying the experience or having a single party. Of course, if a pony from boring old Manehattan even wanted to throw a party at all, there wouldn't be anywhere to buy party supplies, considering how the party store always seemed to be out of goodies for anything like that every time. The ponies of Ponyville almost naturally got up every morning to begin their daily chores and to just have a super-duper fun time. All of the ponies that is except, of course, for the Pegasus from Cloudsdale._

The deep blue-coloured Pegasus pony didn't waste any time and got straight to the point. "Rainbow Dash, I have good news. The Wonderbolts are coming! Here… tomorrow night!"

Rainbow sprung up out of her cloud bed, making it disappear into the clouds making up the rest of the house. "Really? They are… how?" She placed two stern but slightly shaky hooves on both of Cloudkicker's shoulders to hear her answer more clearly, as if missing her answer would mean losing her high-speed flying life.

The Pegasus stood up on her hind-hooves and rubbed another hoof on her chest proudly. "Oh, just yours truly." She kicked off the ground and pointed to herself modestly, with a biiig smile across her deep-blue face. "I have some credentials with the squad and they wanted to fly somewhere they hadn't visited before. I suggested Ponyville and they agreed; especially when I mentioned the pony that created the famous 'Sonic Rainboom' was gonna be there too. They sent a message back immediately saying that they'd be here tomorrow."

Rainbow Dash gasped hugely before flying up to meet Cloudkicker with an equally huge 'thank you' hug. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh! The Wonderbolts? Here? That's awesome Cloudkicker."

The deep-blue Pegasus chuckled at the rainbow-maned pony's excitement and returned the hug. "It's no trouble; they owed me a favour anyway and I wasn't gonna use it for anything, so I thought I'd use it to get your idols here."

"H-Hey, how do you know they're my idols?" With her mind racing, Dash didn't really have much else on her mind but the Wonderbolts accepting her as their newest member; she didn't until the memory of the last morning she and Pinkie spent together came rushing back to her. _Something here doesn't feel right. Why… am I burning up? _She felt a bit nervous about hugging Cloudkicker and flew back anxiously. Feeling even more uncomfortable now that she had broken the hug so awkwardly she tried to cover up her actions, but all she could think about was how wrong it felt to be hugging the Pegasus pony.

Cloudkicker wondered why Rainbow Dash suddenly seemed so uneasy and spoke with some suspicion and worry in her voice. "Oh, well..." She lifted a fore-hoof and gestured to the cloud wall on the left-hoof side of the room. Quite a few photos of the Wonderbolts were pinned to the walls by some unseen force of nature, not to mention physics, and the deep-blue Pegasus turned back to smirk at Dash.

Finally regaining her voice, Rainbow landed on the cloud ground to sink deep in thought. "O-Oh, right." Dash rubbed the back of her mane with an apprehension she couldn't explain. _Please, I don't want to feel this way anymore. _Her eyes had planted themselves firmly on the fluffy ground as stupid thoughts yet again clouded her fast-paced mind.

Feeling confident that she had brightened her spirits, and just a little anxious to leave the Pegasus to her thoughts, Cloudkicker turned towards the door. "Hey, Rainbow Dash! I'll see ya when the Wonderbolts get here, okay?" She flew out the door and zoomed out into the air to begin her daily cloud clearing duties.

With the mention of the pony group she had idolised years ago, Dash was consumed in the reverie of her surely being accepted to join them. "Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! The Wonderbolts are coming here! I can't wait! I've gotta get ready. I've gotta find Pinkie Pie and tell her–" She remembered back to the day before and her gaze lowered to her hooves as her eyes closed sadly.

Rainbow walked up to the window she had been looking out of at the pink pony yesterday and leaned out of it, sighing. _If she said she wanted to be alone… why was Pinkie hanging out with that pony instead of me? What does she have that I don't, anyway? I have wings; what does she have? _Shaking the jealous thoughts away, Rainbow flew out the front door. "I need to get outta here and get some air."

Dash soon after found herself flying down to the ground. She carefully landed on the dirt path in front of her home, just in time to be hit by a pink ball of fluff zooming full bounce out of a bright pink and white and brown cake-house.

"Ooph!" Was all that could be made from the ruckus of the occurring mess of pony and as the two landed on top of each other, they realized the other instantly.

"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow quickly initiated a warm hug towards the pink pony with a relieved smile flying across her face.

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie cried, returning the hug with earnest.

A warm feeling came over Dash and she pulled Pinkie tighter in her hooves. _This is much nicer than hugging Cloudkicker. I could get used to this. _Rainbow lowered her head onto the pink pony's shoulders, until she realised what she had thought. The two ponies separated from the hug, but Dash still held the pink pony's hooves carefully as she spoke. "I-It's so good to see you, Pinkie!"

Pinkie's grin widened to the very tips of the corners of her pink face. "It's good to see you too Dash, but it's only been one day." She lowered her grin slightly to chuckle at the Pegasus. She looked back into Rainbow's eyes and saw something she had never seen before. She really did miss her, more than she ever had. The two ponies stared into each other's eyes for a long while, both lost in the maze of colours and emotions in each; Pinkie had one thought on her Pinkie Pie-mind… and she meant every word:

_I missed you too, Dashie._

"It… feels like longer." As Dash stared up at Pinkie and Pinkie stared back at her, she felt her stomach heat up. Breaking eye contact with those beautiful cyan-coloured eyes, Rainbow gazed down at her tummy with a questioning look soaring up to her blue face. The pink pony followed Dash's stare and the two ponies noticed for the first time that they were sitting on top of each other, blushed, and got up, chuckling nervously. Pinkie dragged a fore-hoof through the dirt, not making eye contact with the cyan-coloured Pegasus, while Rainbow just stared down at the pink pony's hoof. Dash was the first to break the un-comfy silence between them as she sauntered to the side so she could look up into Pinkie's bright blue eyes again. "So Pinks, what did you do yesterday?"

A sweet smile bounced onto Pinkie's face at her bestest best friend's nickname for her. "I missed you calling me that Dashie." Her voice was solemn and lacked a certain amount of energy usually present at all times with the pink Earth pony.

Dash's wings unfurled gently and a smile spread over her face with her answer. "I missed you calling me that and all of your made up words and your just plain bouncerific attitude towards everything." Rainbow chuckled lightly at her description of her bestest best friend and Pinkie laughed as well, but she was the first to stop and look to be in thought about something super important.

Another small silence slid between them; Pinkie dragged a fore-hoof through the dirt before looking up again at Rainbow with apologetic eyes. "Dashie, I'm sorry I made you go to Ponyville all alone yesterday." _Say it. _Pinkie stood there, looking into Rainbow's eyes for the courage to say more, but she couldn't do it. _Why can't I tell her?_

Dash watched as the pink pony lowered her head sadly to stare at her cyan-coloured hooves. She stepped forward softly and nudged Pinkie's head back up to glance weakly at Rainbow. "That's okay Pinks. I think I figured some stuff out on my own."

Pinkie seemed just about to respond to Rainbow's statement, but then she gasped with her usual energetic bouncerific attitude returning. "Ooh ooh, guess what. I have a place to stay already!" Pinkie began bouncing in place with her fluffy magenta-coloured mane following after.

"Really?" Dash raised a curious eyebrow in response to the sudden change of subject that Pinkie Pie is very well known for by all, and especially by Rainbow.

Pinkie smiled brightly and stopped bouncing to talk to Dash more easily, but Rainbow knew that the pink pony was always too excited about something to stand still for too long and this was no exception. "Yeah, it's great. It's the sweet's shop just behind us. Mr. and Mrs. Cake offered me a job there. Isn't that fantabulistical?" As if on cue, Pinkie resumed her in-place bouncing and proceeded to prove Dash right about her friend's hyper-active nature.

Rainbow chuckled at the made-up word and the pink pony's spontaneous hopping; Pinkie always had a way of making her smile, but then she remembered what she had seen the day before. "Was that before or after you made a new friend Pinkie?" She asked suspiciously.

"A new friend?" Pinkie landed in front of her bestest best friend and tilted her head to the side with her pink mane following swiftly.

Dash bit her lip. "Don't lie to me Pinkie Pie. I-I saw you two walking with each other yesterday after you told me you needed some time to think."

A realisation seemed to hit Pinkie as she raised her pink head and started to bounce again. "Oh, you mean Applejack?"

Rainbow Dash's bright magenta-coloured eyes light up and looked down as she remembered what the deep-blue Pegasus pony had said to her when they first met. _Cloudkicker mentioned a pony named Applejack too._

"Yeah, I met her just after me and you split up. She works on an apple farm, kicking apples off trees; she was real nice and she helped me to understand somethings. Some very important feelings I've been having, but you don't wanna hear about all that do you?" Pinkie drew a bored expression over her smile to illustrate her point of explaining things more clearly.

She kept staring into the Earth pony's gorgeous eyes and tried to speak, but it only came to her as a thought. _Actually Pinkie, I don't think there's anything you can say that I wouldn't like to hear._

Pinkie continued her response, bouncing as she went, totally oblivious to the Pegasus pony's troubling thoughts. "As for the before or after, she was just showing me the way to Sugarcube Corner and she got me a job and got me a place to stay all at once and in one go!"

"So, she's just a friend?" Rainbow's ears rose to hear her pink pony friend's reply in anticipation and a fear that she didn't want to understand.

Pinkie, as if noticing the slightest bit of change in tone of the Pegasus pony's question, stopped bouncing and tilted her head to the ground. Her mane followed her movement, but Dash could still see her cyan-coloured eyes through her curly pink mane and could tell that the pink pony was sad for not picking up her reason for asking sooner. "Of course Dashie. Nopony could ever replace you as my number one pony friend. She does make good pies though… mm mmm… apples." She licked her lips and smiled widely back at Rainbow, hoping to cheer her bestest best friend up like always.

Dash couldn't help but laugh at Pinkie's attempt to make her happy. _Phew, that's a relief. _She thought. "Well that's great to know Pinkie Pie. I met somepony too."

"Did you?" Pinkie tilted her head to the side curiously; she always loved to know everypony in the town she lived in and she loved to know that other ponies met everypony too, but this time she felt a little… worried. She tossed that thought aside and started to bounce; trying to forget those meanie-pants feelings she had had for her friend just then. "Ooh ooh, who is it; do I know them?"

Dash smiled back at the pink ball of bouncing pink fluff cheerfully. "Mmm, I don't think so Pinks."

"That's weird." Pinkie put a fore-hoof to her chin in an intense concentration only possible for the pink pony. "I've met just about everypony here already, who could I have missed?"

Rainbow chuckled and took a step forward to receive Pinkie's attention again. "Just let me tell you who it was and then you can decide if you know her or not."

"Okie dokey lokie!" The Earth pony replied as she closed her eyes and lifted her head joyfully.

Dash sighed. Another thing she loved about the pink pony. "Her name was Cloudkicker."

Pinkie nodded quickly in response. "Oh yeah, I know her." She wiggled her rump cutely and stuck out her tongue in concentration and hopped from one side of Rainbow Dash to the other as she spoke to show her point more accurately. "She travels an awwwful lot and a whole bunch too." Regaining her hoofing, Pinkie turned herself back to face the Pegasus pony in front of her. "I met her by accident one day in Manehattan. She seemed to be the only pony that didn't mind my bouncerific energy."

Dash raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side quizzically, her rainbow coloured-mane following quickly after. "Really?" A lock of Rainbow's mane flew down between her eyes and she stared at it in annoyance. "Do you think she'd remember you?" She blew at the lock of mane, but it only lifted up from the gentle breeze she had created and landed back where it was seconds ago; the Pegasus groaned.

Noticing her friend's struggles, Pinkie chuckled and held out her fore-hoof to brush the lock back into its rightful place and smiled at her accomplishment. "There, that's better." Rainbow was speechless and confusingly… happy. "Hmm…" Pinkie put that same hoof to her chin and thought back to that day in the Big Oat.

Cloudkicker smiled at the pink pony's question. "It's actually my birthday today."

"Really? Oh no, but I didn't get you anything for your birthday." She gasped. "I didn't even make you a party, or buy you any streamers or bake you any cupcakes–" She gasped again. This is terrible."

The deep-blue Pegasus chuckled lightly at the pink pony's reaction. "It's okay Pinkie Pie. I don't really need a party or any presents; just forget it, but thanks for thinking about me. Now I've gotta go." She kicked off of the ground and turned back to Pinkie one last time. "Maybe I'll see you later, 'kay Pinkie?" She started to fly away, leaving a very troubled pink pony alone to think of what to do about this terribl-istic mistake she just had to fix.

_Oh no, _She thought. _What am I gonna do? Nopony can go without a party on their birthday. _Pinkie's head, and mane, whipped up super quickly and looked towards a grey building that went by the rather obvious and really silly name of:

'Cake Shop' and gasped even louder than before.

Realisation had struck her Pinkie Pie-mind._ Wait a minute, there's a cake shop on this street! _Pinkie began racing down the street to the store as she planned her next move out in her mind. _I can quickly buy a cake and surprise Cloudkicker with it. Pinkie Pie is on the case. _But then she stopped and put a hoof to her chin. _Hmm, I wonder what's inside the case… cake? _Pinkie tilted her head in thought. _Ooh maybe muffins… or sarsaparilla. _She shook her pink head and started cantering off to the strangely in-business cake store. _Oh I'll find out when Cloudkicker opens it; I've got a cake to buy!_

Now being in a hurry, she bought a large party cake filled with streamers and poppers and snakes and all manner of stuff she could pull out of nowhere and zoomed after the blue-grey pony. She saw the Pegasus pony walk into a rather tall skyscraper, by which Pinkie Pie followed her into. She noticed Cloudkicker had taken the stairs so she jumped on the elevator to head her off at the fifth floor. Somehow the pink pony knew the birthday pony was headed for the fifth floor – after all, her back left thigh was itchy and that usually meant a deep-blue Pegasus pony was having a birthday that day and needed some cake delivered on the fifth floor right away – and got off to surprise her. Unfortunately, when she jumped out at her to hoof the cake over, she had overloaded the cake with ribbons and streamers and poppers and it had all turned into a massive bouncy pressure sensitive party bomb that sent Cloudkicker flying back – blinded by the brightly coloured confetti – screaming wildly, and tumbling down to the very bottom step. _THUD!_

"Oops." Was all the Earth pony could say.

Pinkie, ending her flashback, nodded happily with her eyes shut pleasantly. "Yes… I think she'd remember me." She opened them again to see Rainbow gazing at her speechlessly.

_Note to self, _Thought Dash. _Don't re-introduce Pinkie to Cloudkicker._ "Anyway Pinks, Cloudkicker dropped by just now and said that the Wonderbolts are coming to Ponyville tomorrow!"

Pinkie's blue-coloured eyes brightened and she gasped lightly as she remembered what she had seen at Dash's house two nights ago. "Wow, you mean those high-flying Pegasi squad ponies you have tons and tons and tooons of posters and pictures of?" She hopped up once and landed, crouching down and readying herself to spring up in a huuuge bounce of excitement, wiggling her rump again in concentration.

At seeing the pink pony's comical display, Dash giggled softly and spoke coolly to her bestest best friend about her high-flying idols. "That's them. They're gonna make me an honorary member of the squad for sure."

Pinkie seemed to have not heard the blue pony's answer and kept talking rapidly. "The one's that go zoom zoom zoom zoooom and just before they hit the ground shoom they pick up vroom?" As Pinkie spoke, her words mimicked the movements of flying to which she demonstrated to her blue Pegasus friend in mid-air.

Dash chuckled happily at the pink pony's impressions of flying without wings and nodded; she wasn't surprised at all by her new ability. "Yep."

The bouncing pink pony grinned widely and landed in front of the rose-eyed pony. She looked into the Pegasus pony's eyes happily. "That's great Rainbow Dash! Well then, you'd better go get ready for when they come and make you a Wonderbolt– Ooph!"

Feeling two fore-hooves wrap tightly around her, Pinkie Pie felt herself blush as Rainbow Dash embraced her in a huuuge hug and seemed a bit stunned; the Earth pony's fore-hooves spread out beside her in surprise as a calming voice spoke up before she could say anything. "You're always there to cheer me up aren't you Pinks?"

Hearing this, the pink pony forgot about the warm feelings she held for the Pegasus and hugged Rainbow back. Pinkie lowered her pink curly mane onto Dash's shoulders and nuzzled her gently. "Always Dashie."

Letting the other go, they smiled firmly and brightly as they gazed into each other's beautiful eyes. Dash's soon dropped to a serious expression… a serious expression that hid a developing smirk on her blue face. "Pinkie… before I go do you wanna hang out? We can pull some new pranks I've been thinkin' up on these ponies. I'm sure they can take a joke… not like those Manehattan stuck-ups. What'd'ya say Pinks?" The smirk showing through now, the Pegasus pony looked confidently to her pink Earth pony friend to await her always cheerful response.

Pinkie blinked rapidly and raised a fore-hoof guiltily. "Hang out? No I can't. I promised the Cakes I'd deliver some sweets to Daisy at the flower shop. Just between you and me…" She glanced around to make sure nopony else was listening and walked up super close to her bestest best friend, whispering the last part in her ear. "She's got a bit of a sweet tooth." Pinkie, having finished explaining her current situation, hopped back away from the blue pony's personal space with a gigantic grin bouncing across her pink face.

Rainbow arched a suspecting eyebrow at this and frowned a little. "I see. Well then you'd better get on that quickly. If this Daisy is anything like you, I'm sure she'll need that right away." She raised a fore-hoof to Pinkie's chest and smirked.

"Okie dokey lokie!" The pink pony, in return, began to hop in place lightly, still low enough for Rainbow's hoof to remain in place comfortably.

"But Pinkie?" Dash said, moving her hoof to Pinkie's shoulder to stop her from further bouncing at the current time. "Next time, come up with a better excuse for not wanting to hang with me then delivering candy to ponies. It's way too obvious you are the one with the sweet tooth Pinks."

Pinkie tilted her head to the side quizzically and her mane bounded along in response, landing right where it needed to be on the pink pony's face again. "What're you talking about Dashie? I'm helping Daisy make a party for when the Wonderbolts get here." Rainbow lowered her hoof in a sudden and very understandable daze and confusion that seemed utterly lost in the Earth pony's beautiful cyan-coloured eyes. "There's gonna be cake and streamers and sarsaparilla and– Mmph?"

"Hold on." Dash interrupted as she jammed a fore-hoof into Pinkie's mouth to stop any further random comments from exiting the pink pony's mouth. "How could you have set that up so quickly? I only just told you they were coming." A sudden troubling thought soared across her mind and Rainbow lowered her hoof to the ground. _What if…? _"Did your Pinkie sense tell you before and you didn't think to mention it to your bestest best friend?" _Did she tell Applejack and not me about this? _Dash looked hurt at the sudden thought she had about her friend for a reason she didn't understand and tried hard to shake it from her mind, but was met with little success.

Pinkie shrugged the question off with a hoof immediately and responded joyfully. "Oh that's silly. I would surely tell you everything I knew rightly right away; we have no secrets right?" Pinkie froze after those words. _Oh no, that's not true. What have I done? Dashie doesn't keep secrets from me, but I have the biggest most hugest and most getting in the way of bestest best friendship secret there is. _"It's just that… well." She cut her-pony-self off and pointed a hoof over to a fence covered with fliers with the title reading:

'The Wonderbolts in Ponyville: Tomorrow Night at the Town Hall'.

In fact, now that Rainbow Dash noticed, the little town had fliers and posters scattered all around. She saw quite a few fences covered in posters and even the sides of houses had pictures of the Wonderbolts posing heroically on them. Dash turned back to the pink pony and they stared into each other's eyes for a while. Pinkie was smiling widely, but the Pegasus pony was staring seriously into the eyes of the Earth pony to find the answer to the question she still couldn't quite determine. "Pinkie Pie? Would you… like to go see the Wonderbolts with me? I just thought that you'd like to come and see them and… with me and all…"

Pinkie backed away and glanced to the side nervously. "Uh… well, I've got a lot of delivering to do and… I–I just… can't." Her happy smile had faded into a frown as she berated herself for what she soo desperately wanted to say to her friend. _Why can't I just say it?_

Hearing this, Dash turned to the side with her own sad look spreading across her face. "It's fine; you're busy. I… I understand." She lowered her head to the ground and away from her Earth pony friend.

Pinkie shook her head in response, but Rainbow had already turned away and couldn't see the pink pony's reaction and apprehension to acknowledge her. _No, _She thought. _You don't understand at all. You're not fine and neither am I. If I could just say–_

"I'm just kind of nervous about meeting my idols and I thought… that if I had you there with me… I'd be okay again." She began to saunter away as she tried to speak more confidently. "I guess I'll just have to suck it up and go it a–"

"I'd love to go." Pinkie looked up at the Pegasus with newly found courage and a broad smile that spoke of no lies.

Dash spun around, ears perked and a happy and hopeful smile on her face. "W-What?"

Pinkie walked forward and closed the distance between them before answering her friend's… sort of question. "What you said before… I thought about it… for a long time and I'd love to go out with you sometime and seeing the Wonderbolts sounds like tons of fun." The pink pony finished with her usual flair and a single joyful bounce to show her already obvious interest, just in case.

Rainbow Dash smiled weakly, but happily at the pink pony. "And Pinkie Pie lo-oves to have fun, right?" They both shared a laugh together as the day drew on and Dash really didn't want to leave, but she and Pinkie had their own stuff to do and didn't want to keep her up even more. "So then I guess we'd better get off to where it is we're going, right Pinks?"

Pinkie walked beside Rainbow and stopped behind her, facing away from her cyan-coloured pony friend. "Yeah. Hey Dashie, I love your cloud-house." The party pony lifted her head up to see her bestest best friend's super-duper fluffy and cool looking cloud-home with amazement… and something else. "The rainbow river really suits you." Dash wasn't sure if that statement was supposed to be a compliment or an insult, but to her it sounded like Pinkie was trying not to cry in front of her.

She couldn't tell for sure and it just made her feel that much worse about the whole thing. "Uh… Pinkie Pie? Is… ?" Dash gulped. _I… I can't…_

With surprisingly slow speed and without another word, Pinkie Pie walked away, leaving the cyan-coloured Pegasus alone. It's not what the magenta-eyed pony wanted and knowing that just made her want to fly away and hopefully forget these feelings she didn't want to keep. She quickly decided that a good long soar in the clouds would cheer her up, so she flew in the opposite direction Pinkie Pie had taken.

That flight eventually took her to the border of Ponyville, where she saw a large cottage with animals all along it. As she flew up ahead, cyan wings parting the fluffy cumulous and stripy cirrus clouds she leisurely breezed through along the way, a small timid voice called out to her.

"Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow recognized that small voice. Turning around, the blue Pegasus was looking into the light-blue eyes of a yellow Pegasus pony just below her. "Fluttershy?"

The Pegasus' eyes lit up some as she looked into Dash's eyes. "It is you. Oh, um… what brings you to Ponyville Rainbow Dash? Oh, I mean, if you don't mind me asking that is." Fluttershy looked down in embarrassment and rubbed her hooves together timidly.

Rainbow leveled with the shy pony in the sky and shook her head lightly. "Oh not at all, it's great to see you." Dash shrugged her shoulders and looked back towards Ponyville with a small smile gracing her blue face. "Actually a friend told me about this place and it sounded nice, so I decided to move here."

Fluttershy raised her head in surprise and her mane brushed out of the way of her blue eyes. "Really? That's wonderful Rainbow. Who is this friend? Did she come with you?"

"Yeah, she's a pink Earth pony from Manehattan." Rainbow chuckled softly as she remembered what happened just yesterday. "Or she used to be."

The yellow pony nodded slowly in reply. "I see. Well would you like to have some tea with me in my cottage?" Fluttershy flew over to the side to show Rainbow the pet sanctuary the shy Pegasus housed the various small animals she took care of. "We could catch up with what we missed of the other, if you like."

Dash put a fore-hoof to her chin in consideration and shrugged her shoulders. "Well I've never liked tea, but I'd be happy to chat with you for a while. Of course that won't be a problem anymore 'cause we both live here and all. It'll be great."

"Oh, okay then." Fluttershy turned around and looked back over her shoulder at the blue Pegasus. Follow me."

"Lead the way." Rainbow called to her foalhood friend as she followed her down to the cottage.

The two Pegasi landed at the door to Fluttershy's animal refuge. Rainbow Dash noticed all the little furry and feather creatures around and immediately remembered her Pegasus friend's shy demeanour. Dash sat down on Fluttershy's couch while the pink-maned pony went to get some food for them. As she left for her kitchen, a white bunny hopped up to Rainbow and raised a curious eyebrow.

Dash looked down at the furry creature and smiled. "Hey there little guy. Are you a friend of Fluttershy's? Same here." Rainbow hopped up from the couch and looked around at the inside of her friend's house. "I just dropped by for a visit, so we could catch up." Dash turned back to face the bunny to say something more, but was interrupted when the creature stomped his foot on her hoof. "Oww!"

The small yellow Pegasus pony's head suddenly appeared at the door to the kitchen. She gasped. "Angel Bunny, don't do that to our guest. She's a friend from Cloudsdale." The newly named Angel stood there for a moment with his arms crossed before he bounced away. "I'm so sorry about that; he's a little troublesome at times, but I just brought him here from the Everfree Forest last week." Fluttershy flew through the doorway with a plate full of food and tea and set it down on the table. "He should be just fine with a little love, care, and kindness. You okay Rainbow Dash?"

"I'm fine." Rainbow replied, rubbing her hooves together softly. "So, if you don't mind me asking, why do you have a house out here full of animals?"

"Oh well…" The shy Pegasus dragged a fore-hoof along the floor and looked back up at Dash." The little bunnies and birds feel nervous being around town with all the ponies walking about, so I built this cottage for all the shy creatures to live in with me." Angel appeared in front of the two ponies again and Fluttershy leaned in and whispered to Rainbow Dash. "There just a teeny tiny bit afraid of all the ponies accidently stepping on them."

Dash smirked at the yellow-coloured Pegasus. "Same ol' Fluttershy, huh?" Fluttershy blushed and smiled behind her light-pink mane.

"So Rainbow Dash, what have you been doing?" She raised her head back up and her mane settled back beside her face. "Still trying to get into the Wonderbolts?" She asked with a small giggle.

Rainbow smirked and nodded in answer as she bit into a cookie. "You know it. I've just been on vacation in Manehattan for the last few weeks."

"Oh? Is it nice there?" Fluttershy enquired, taking a small sip of her tea.

Dash shook her hoof in remembrance and lowered her head a little. "Nah, all the ponies there are boring stuck up snobs. Even the pranks I played on 'em seemed wasted. But… there was one pony that wasn't all business and no fun like them." Rainbow raised her head and smiled gently.

"Really?" The shy Pegasus set down her cup and looked at the blue pony kindly. "Tell me about her. What is she like? I mean, if you want to that is."

"Oh she's awesome." Rainbow sat up and smiled. "She's so bouncy and energetic and funny and playful… and she makes the best cupcakes let me tell ya." She stood up suddenly and kicked her hooves off the couch, flapping her wings just over her spot at Fluttershy. "She throws amazing parties and loves 'em to bits… and she has great ideas for pranks… every. Time."

"Oh, well… she does seem… nice." The yellow Pegasus smiled nervously and hid a little behind her pink mane again.

"Yeah, she is." Dash landed and folded her wings up beside her as she trotted over to a window to look out at Fluttershy's rather large yard.

"Uhm, Rainbow Dash?" The shy pony called from her seat.

Rainbow turned around and looked towards Fluttershy with a questioning expression. "Yes Fluttershy?"

"Oh, um, nothing." Fluttershy glanced away from the rainbow-maned Pegasus and saw an annoyed Angel Bunny staring up at her.

Dash left the window sill and walked back over to her friend. "What is it Fluttershy?"

"No, i-it's nothing. Really." Fluttershy retreated a little further into her pink mane as she sat up on the couch.

Rainbow sighed in annoyance and squinted at the Pegasus seated before her. "Fluttershy, I know when you're lying to me. A few years away from you doesn't change the fact that you're a terrible liar."

Her mane completely covered one side of her face now. "Oh, but I-I'm not lying."

"Fluttershy." Rainbow gave her a stern look and tapped her fore-hoof impatiently.

Angel appeared at the back-hoof of the yellow Pegasus pony and kicked it gently.

"Oh, okay then." She shyly lifted her head up again and looked into Dash's pretty magenta-coloured eyes. "Well, um, I was just wondering if you knew the Wonderbolts were coming tomorrow night."

"Oh yeah, I know. There's fliers and posters for it all over town." Rainbow chuckled softly at the fact that she hadn't seen them before Pinkie Pie pointed them out to her.

Fluttershy sighed with relief at the Pegasus' happy reply. "Oh, good. Well, I was thinking that since you would want to meet the Wonderbolts and make a good impression… you would want to… look good."

Rainbow lowered her head in consideration. "Right, I never thought of that, but what could I wear? I don't wear dresses; they're way too… blech!" Dash raised a tucked in fore-hoof to an invisible dress and stuck out her tongue in disgust.

Fluttershy chuckled lightly and rose from her seat, flapping her wings lightly to stay just off the floor. "Well, I have a friend who's quite good at making custom clothing. If you tell her what to put on the dress I'm sure she'll be happy to make it for you. She's always sort of… asking me if I would like a dress, but I'd be too shy to wear it anywhere on my own."

Rainbow put a hoof to her chin and sighed. "Well I guess we could try; let's go." The cyan-coloured Pegasus made for the door and turned back around to see Fluttershy following slowly.

"Okay… great." She stopped and looked at the door beside Dash. "A-And maybe we could get a dress made for your friend too?" As she finished her question, she managed to stare back at the blue pony timidly.

"Huh? Why would I do that?" Rainbow sauntered over to the shy Pegasus to hear her reply.

"W-Well um…" She shyly rubbed a fore-hoof against the other, not making eye contact with her foalhood friend anymore.

Dash nodded as her thoughts were confirmed. "Okay, now I know you've got something to say. What is it Fluttershy?" Rainbow sat down on her rump and waited for the pink-maned pony to answer her.

"Well, I just a-assumed that–" Another kick from the white rabbit made Fluttershy sigh and look back up at her cyan-coloured friend. "Alright… if you really wanna know." She breathed in deeply and began to speak more quickly than before. "How you spoke of your friend seemed really nice and you seem to enjoy her company a lot, but you looked so happy and sad at the same time when you talked to me about her. You haven't said her name yet and whenever I ask about her you become tense. And I-I don't mind… it's your decision, but do… do you… love her Rainbow Dash?"

The whole speech left the Pegasus inarticulate and the little question at the end only succeeded in making the blue pony's eyes widen and her jaw drop. "I… I…" Her head dropped in realisation and shame. "I think I do."

"It's alright. It's natural to feel this way Rainbow Dash." The yellow Pegasus said calmly, trying to make the troubled pony understand her feelings.

Dash turned suddenly on the pink-maned pony, making her back away startled. "Yeah… it's natural for colts to feel this way! She's my bestest best friend and I…" Rainbow stopped herself and looked away, regret filling her heart.

Regaining her courage, the shy pony stepped closer to the confused pony. "Rainbow… I know you're really confused and… upset that you feel this way, but you can't fight it. I've seen what happens when you fight love. My little friend's feelings eat them up inside and they feel just awful. I don't want that to happen to a friend like you." She shook her head lightly at the rainbow-maned pony.

"But I asked her to go with me to the Wonderbolts party and she said yes." Rainbow blurted out before thinking and when she did, she didn't really care what she had said. It sounded good to hear that from her own muzzle.

"Then we have to get two dresses made by that night." Surprising Dash, Fluttershy raised her head with a new confidence present in her voice.

"But I don't know how she feels about me." Rainbow started to feel uncomfortable and her wings unfurled nervously. "What if she doesn't feel the same way? What if I ruin our bestest best friendship?" She lowered her head as she folded her cyan-coloured wings against herself.

"Rainbow Dash I'm not going to make you go, but you helped me with those bullies that day in Cloudsdale and I would like to repay that kindness you showed me. You were the only pony that stood up for me and I want to do the same for you. I don't want you to make the mistake of not going; the mistake of not seeing the Wonderbolts with the one you care the most about." She finished with a stern look directed at the Pegasus pony and waited for her friend's response.

"Ugh, Fluttershy, how do I let you talk me into these things?" Rainbow shook her head, but couldn't shake the happy thoughts developing in her mind.

"I'm very persuasive." She smiled sweetly and Angel gave her a swift kick. She looked back at the impatient bunny apologetically. "Oh, sorry."

"Come on then." Dash said back at the cottage door with an anxious look soaring across her blue face. "It's time you showed me this 'fabulous pony' that you say can help me."

Flluttershy nodded in agreement. "Okay. Angel Bunny, can you look after the house and animals while I'm gone?" Angel gave the yellow-coloured Pegasus a salute and gave Dash a thumbs up. "I think that means… good luck." Angel nodded as the Pegasi fly off towards Ponyville.

The two flew through Ponyville and reached a rather tall building with the name:

'Carousel Boutique' painted in gold letters, across its door.

As Fluttershy nudged the door open with her snout a doorbell rang. "Hello? Rarity, are you in here?"

Rainbow only just had time enough to enter as well before a pure white mare with a purple mane zipped in front of the timid Pegasus pony. "Why hello there darling. Is it finally time I made you a dress? Please say yes, please say yes!" She shrieked with her hooves joined together in hopeful prayer.

"Oh, well… no." She replied meekly, gesturing to the pony beside her. "But I have a friend that needs two dresses for tomorrow's Wonderbolt appearance at the town hall."

Rarity looked from Fluttershy to Dash in concentration and arched a dissatisfied eyebrow at her. "Hmm, well I can see why you would want me to help you look nice for such ponies, but why in Equestria would you need two dresses for?"

As it shifted from early morning to late afternoon, the three ponies conversed about the situation of the blue Pegasus, and Rarity had already 'blown herself away' with what 'masterpieces' she was making for her.

"I can't wait to see how your friend likes it." She turned away from the design sheet Rarity had made for the mystery pink pony and looked hopefully at Rainbow. "Will you tell me about it later, Rainbow Dash? Oh, I mean… if that's okay with you that is."

"Sure Fluttershy. I'll be sure to tell ya the good news." She looked down at her hooves and sighed. _At least I hope it's good news._

"Why Rainbow Dash; you seem quite sure of yourself about this filly of yours." Rarity spoke as she raised her head up from her sowing machine and walked over to the rainbow-maned pony. "And from what you tell me, she is the rambunctious type of pony too. I would just like to ask you one thing… if it's not too much trouble mind you."

Dash felt a little unsure about replying with how Rarity was looking at her, but she decided it couldn't be that bad a question. "Okay, shoot." She said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Is this pony… the first you feel this way about?"

Rainbow's eyes shrunk immediately. She tried to think, but couldn't come up with anything; she just stared anxiously into Rarity's violet-coloured eyes."Oh uh… well I–" She shut her eyes tightly and tried to think harder. _Come on, you're the Dash. You've never hesitated before, what's stopping you now? _

"It's quite alright if you do not wish to tell me." Rarity spoke up again, interrupting Dash's thoughts. "Forgive my curiosity, but I am the romantic type; I know just about every relationship here in Ponyville, by the consent of those ponies to tell me of course, so I couldn't help but ask." She turned back around at her creations and smiled contently. "Now, where would you like me to store these two dresses until the big night?"

"… Yes." Dash responded; opening her magenta-coloured eyes and raising her head up proudly.

Rarity was surprised at the sudden answer and turned back at the Pegasus with a questioning look. "What was that?"

"The answer to your question. She…" Rainbow gulped. "She is the first pony I've felt this way about. I couldn't possibly feel anything differently for her, or anypony else." She shook her head truthfully.

Rarity smiled kindly and shook her own head slightly. "My, my, my, it would appear we have another blossoming relationship in our small town. Well, good for you Rainbow Dash. I hope your friend turns out to have the same feelings for you as you have for her."

"Thanks." Dash allowed a small cheerful smile to cross out her nervous thoughts and fly happily across her face.

While the three ponies discussed their ideas for Rainbow Dash's and her mystery date's entrance to the Wonderbolts visit inside the Boutique, Pinkie Pie was bouncing along looking for her bestest best friend… that happened to be Rainbow Dash.

"Hi, have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere?" She asked a random pony walking down through the town square. The pony shook her head lightly. Rushing off to another group of ponies she asked more forwardly, "I'm lookin' for Rainbow Dash have you seen her?" Head shakes all around. "Okay, thanks anyway." Just then she looked to the side and saw three ponies inside the large white and purple building well known to its residents and quite recently, to Pinkie. Zipping over to the window, Pinkie peeked in to hear that Dash had made two dresses for the night ahead; the one extra being for a friend of hers. _Did Dashie make that dress for me? Pink, candy, fluffy, poufy, bouncy. _The pony gasped loudly even with her fore-hooves covering her pink mouth. _It is for me! Oh I'm soo happy; I should give her a biiig huger-ific hug as a thank you for being such a terrifically good friend! Or maybe… a thank you prank instead. Rainbow Dash loves pranks… it's perfect! _Having come to a decision, Pinkie mock-menacingly rubbed her hooves together with a smirk bounding onto her bright pink face.

As the conversation died down, Fluttershy spoke up to the others as she backed up to the door of the store. "Um, excuse me… but I should get going… if that would be alright. I mean… the animals at the cottage will be wondering where their mother is, right?"

Rarity shook her head sympathetically. "Oh it's no trouble darling. I'll just put the finishing touches on the two dresses in the morning and we shall be all set for tomorrow night."

"Yeah, it's cool Fluttershy." Rainbow trotted over to the shy Pegasus and smiled. "Thanks for the help; I really needed it."

"Oh… um… you're welcome." Fluttershy returned the smile and continued to the door with Dash and Rarity following closely behind.

The pink pony watched as three ponies began to walk out and to Pinkie, it seemed like Dash would be the first one out.

_Now's my chance, _She snickered to herself and snuck over to the entrance to prepare her well plotted prank. _When Dashie opens the door, I'll jump out from the side and yell "BOO!" She'll be so surprised and happy to see me and she'll give me a huuuge hug for the awesome prank I pulled on her._

The door swung open slowly; Pinkie wiggled her rump, readying herself for her big scare and when she saw a hoof land on the first step she rocketed out from her hiding place with a scream of:

"BOO!"

For an answer, however, came a very loud squeak of terror from the timid yellow Pegasus as she flew off, quite rapidly for a such a shy pony in fact, to her cottage near the Everfree Forest. Pinkie was stunned by the reaction and super regretful for accidently pranking somepony she didn't even know too well. She sat on her rump with her beautiful blue eyes still on the small yellow pony. _Oh, that wasn't what I had in mind for my prank at all._

With the sudden and abrupt disappearance of the timid Pegasus pony, Rainbow and Rarity cantered out of the Boutique and saw Pinkie looking confused and more than a little regretful for what she had done.

"Pinkie?" Rainbow immediately looked nervous. "Uh, hi, Pinks. What are you doing here?"

Pinkie stood up and gave Dash a look of concentration, quite unusual for the pink pony. "Dash? Sorry, but… I gotta go. Talk to ya later okay?" She zoomed off towards Fluttershy's cottage to apologize for what she did.

This left the Pegasus feeling relieved that she hadn't done anything incredibly stupid in front of Pinkie, but this feeling of calm soon ended as Rarity cleared her throat from behind Rainbow. "So, Dash. Who is this pony friend of yours again?"

Dash gulped loudly and turned around with an awkward smile spread across her face. "Uh, well, you see…"

Rarity raised a knowing eyebrow at the Pegasus.

Pinkie had raced from Carousel Boutique all the way to Fluttershy's cottage just on the outskirts of Ponyville in 10 seconds flat… so it was needless to say that she needed to catch her breath a bit before she could talk again. But ignoring that fact, being Pinkie Pie after all, the pink pony knocked on the door and leaned against it, just in case the reply came as a mere whisper.

No reply came from within the house. "Fluttershy? Are you okay in there? I'm sorry I scared you; I didn't mean to, it was meant for somepony else. I'm super sorry." Pinkie hung her head sadly and sat on her rump.

Just as she was about to leave, Pinkie heard noises from inside the animal refuge. The door slowly opened to reveal the timid Pegasus, with an accepting smile on her bright yellow face. "Oh, it's fine. You don't have to apologize. It happens to me a lot."

"Can I try anyway? I'm real sorry for pranking you; I was trying to surprise Rainbow Dash when she walked out of Carousel Boutique, but I kinda messed up on the timing." Pinkie looked guiltily at Fluttershy as she opened the door fully.

The Pegasus shook her head. "It's quite alright, um…"

Pinkie's head popped up and she gasped with exasperation. "Oh, I haven't told you my name yet. Silly me. Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie." She answered cheerfully as she resumed her bouncing.

Fluttershy followed Pinkie's erratic movements as she made her response. "Well it's nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie. I haven't seen you in Ponyville before. Did you just move here recently? If you don't mind me asking that is." She tilted her head down and her mane covered her face a bit.

This only seemed to make the pink pony happier and she bounced higher with her successful job at cheering the shy pony up. "Oh, well I used to live in Manehattan, but I moved here two days ago. It was super boring there, so I decided I'd move to a funner place and this town seemed like tons of fun. I've already got a job working at Sugarcube Corner and a home to hoof and I've already met everypony in Ponyville, including you Fluttershy." She smiled proudly at the yellow-coloured Pegasus and kept bouncing.

Fluttershy blushed lightly. "Oh, well that sounds lovely."

"Yes indeedie. Hey, Fluttershy, can I ask you something?" Pinkie stopped bouncing and tilted her head to the side to await the pink-maned pony's answer.

"Oh, sure. Would you like to come in?" She asked, kicking off the steps gently to hover in place and gesture into the cottage. "I still have some cookies out that haven't been eaten yet."

Pinkie gasped. "Cookies? Let's go." She bounded in and sat her rump down on the couch, happily seated behind the tray of delicious-looking sweets.

Fluttershy entered after her and sat down as well, waiting patiently for what the pink pony could be asking her about. Pinkie had started eating the cookies – chocolate chip cookies – and was on her sixth when she caught sight of the shy Pegasus next to her. Remembering what she had asked, the pink Earth pony brought a hoof to her chin in thought. "Oops, sorry Fluttershy. Now what was I gonna ask? Oh yeah." She brightened up at remembering and tilted her head to the side at the shy pony. "What were the super cute dresses for?"

"The dresses?" Fluttershy's eyes darted from left to right suddenly.

Pinkie didn't seem to notice any apprehension in the pony's light-blue eyes. "Yeah, you know; the dresses at Carousel Boutique, silly. They looked really nice and I just wanted to know who they were for."

Fluttershy shuffled her fore-hooves around as she lay on her tummy. "Well, they were for a friend. Rainbow Dash." Remembering what the pink pony had said earlier, she looked into Pinkie's eyes curiously. "You said you knew her, right?"

Pinkie raised her head proudly and nodded. "Yes indeedie." She gasped as a thought hopped into her Pinkie Pie-mind and she looked more intently at the timid Pegasus. "Are they for the Wonderbolts' thingy tomorrow night?"

"Oh yes." Fluttershy nodded gently in response. "She seemed quite happy about it. She usually doesn't like wearing dresses or looking pretty."

Pinkie sat down on her rump once more and frowned cutely. "But who's the other dress for? She can't wear two dresses at once can she?" She put a fore-hoof to her chin. "Can she?" She raised an eyebrow at the confusing question of being able to wear two things at once, but just as quickly shrugged it off.

Fluttershy giggled at the pony's odd question and answered her. "She said it was for a good friend of hers. She met her over in Manehattan during her vacation there."

Pinkie gasped again, but more quietly. Her face reddened and her expression became solemn. "Did… Did she say who it was?" The Earth pony shuffled her hooves around absentmindedly as she waited for Fluttershy to reply.

"Well, no." Fluttershy saw the pink pony's mane fall in front of her face sadly and heard a deafening sound of 'oh' from the party pony; her mane seemed less poufy than it had before and it made her feel terrible. Before any reply could be made from Pinkie, the shy Pegasus spoke once again, trying to cheer the pony up. "But she said she was a great prankster… and she hops around everywhere and loves throwing parties. 'She seems to have an unlimited amount of energy', she said."

_Dashie… _The Earth pony glanced down at her hooves with a small smile spread across her pink face. Pinkie looked back up into Fluttershy's kind eyes and stood up shakily. "That's great. Dash should have tons of fun at the party with that cute-looking dress she has." Pinkie gasped again, and bounced over to the door as she spoke to the yellow-coloured pony. "I just remembered I gotta help Daisy pick some flowers for tomorrow night. Sorry Fluttershy. We'll talk more later, okay?"

"Oh that's fine. Say hi to Daisy for me." Fluttershy waved a good-bye hoof at Pinkie as she left.

The pink pony waved back while still managing to bounce in place at the door. "Don't worry, I will. Bye-bye Fluttershy." Pinkie hopped out of the cottage giggling at her rhyme and continued on her way back to Ponyville and the local Flower Shop.

Back at Carousel Boutique, the two ponies were having their own important conversation as Rainbow Dash backed out of the shop uncomfortably.

"Rainbow Dash, I must say I am disappointed. If you want her to truly understand your feelings for her you must ask her properly or she won't ever get it." Rarity shook her head lightly and stopped walking towards the Pegasus.

Dash stuttered as she reached the end of the doorway, afraid to have this conversation transferred outside. "I–I'm sure it'll be fine. She seemed quite happy to–"

Rarity sighed loudly. "If you truly have feelings for this pony, then you should be taking her out to dinner… or at the very least a movie."

"But it's a dance." Rainbow argued weakly, her voice cracking as she spoke.

"It's for the Wonderbolts… and the way you asked her to it…" Rarity sighed and shook her head again. "If you asked me, it doesn't even sound like you mean it as a date."

_What did I mean?_ Dash lowered her head to the ground and closed her eyes before sighing. She knew exactly what she meant. "I–I need Pinkie there with me." Rainbow raised her head to stare more confidently into the purple-maned pony's eyes. "If she's there… I feel better. If she's there I can talk to anypony… and be happy." The Pegasus shook her head firmly, but gently. "I've never felt this way before and I never want to forget it."

Now it was Rarity's turn to be quiet. After a moment of silence she nodded just enough for Rainbow to actually recognize it as what it was.

Out the corners of their eyes, the two ponies noticed the pink pony approaching happily from the same place she had soo quickly dashed in and Rarity put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. She gasped quietly. "There she is." Seeing that the Pegasus had frozen up and wasn't going to make a move anytime soon, Rarity decided to take matters into her own hooves. "What are you waiting for? Go!" She whispered and pushed Dash in the side with her head off of the step, landing right on top of Pinkie. "Oops." She said sarcastically as she returned to her designs inside the Boutique with a wide smirk on her white-coloured face.

Shaking the confusion, and feathers, out of her vision, Pinkie saw Rainbow and immediately gasped with joy. "Dashie! You're still here." Noticing for the first time that Dash had landed on top of her, Pinkie smiled brightly and continued. "Wow. Usually it's me that lands on top of you." Pinkie chuckled lightly at the Pegasus' still spinning eyes. "I guess you can have a turn though."

At hearing this, Dash's eyes focused instantly and she looked anxiously into the pink pony's eyes. "Pinkie?" She scrambled to her hooves, accidently rolling Pinkie over onto her other side facing away from the blue pony. "Uh, hi. How–How are you?"

The Earth pony rolled onto her back and grinned at the rainbow-maned worry-faced pony with cheer. "Oh, I'm fine Rainbow Dash. I was just off to–"

"That's great Pinks." She said in a hurry, interrupting the pink pony's response. "Listen, uh, I was just wondering… I mean if it's not too much trouble…" Rainbow trailed off and glanced at Pinkie, still with her hoovsies in the air cutely. _Pinkie…? _She thought blissfully, in a daze.

"Yeah?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head to the side curiously and smiling sweetly up at her bestest best friend.

Heat spread across her face and her wings unfurled tightly as Dash turned her head away awkwardly from staring at Pinkie's bright pink tummy. "Well, if… if you would like to–"

"There you are Pinkie Pie!" A voice called from Rainbow's left. Both ponies looked to where the noise had come from and saw a pony with a daisy cutie-mark on her flank approaching.

"Huh?" Dash asked as she raised an eyebrow at the new pony.

She trotted passed her and stopped in front of the pink party pony, with her hooves in the air. "You were supposed to be helping me with collecting the flowers for tomorrow night's party!"

Pinkie rolled over and sat up quickly with a sad look covering her face. "But I was just–" She pointed to Dash, but the pony grabbed her hoof, preventing her from finishing her argument.

"No time! We have only two days to get ready and I need all the help I can get." She shouted as she dragged Pinkie away.

"Wait! Dash!" She shouted back towards the Pegasus, but couldn't get through the pony's iron grip.

Dash called back to her pink party friend with a hidden sadness in her reassuring voice. "It's okay Pinkie. I'll catch up with ya later, okay?" Her ears perked up to hear Pinkie's response like at that moment; it was the most important thing in the whole wide Equestria to her.

"Promise?" Pinkie replied, more quietly than before.

Rainbow smiled softly and began the hoof movements she knew so well. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Hearing her friend's response, the pink pony smiled that same small smile she gave her the day she cheered her up. Dash's heart sank in liquid happiness as she watched her trot away with the in-a-hurry pony.

As the forms faded against the setting sun and the hills on the outskirts of the small town, Rainbow sighed and turned around. She looked up at her cloud-home and walked slowly over to it as her thoughts covered her mind in fog. _That's okay. I'll just take a nap until Pinkie's done with picking flowers… and then we can make up for all the time we've spent away from each other. _She smiled serenely and kicked off the ground with her hooves to fly up and land comfortably on her fluffy cumulous cloud house entrance. She opened the front door and slunk into her bed for a quick nap. _We can prank tons of ponies and… throw a party to celebrate… and… we can make cupcakes together. _Before she could think of what she had said, the cyan-coloured Pegasus drifted off to a dream-filled sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"There's no such thing as perfect. You are beautiful just the way you are."

Chapter 6

Troubled Hearts and Fading Friendships

_The small town of Ponyville was yet again asleep. Its residents safely nestled in their beds, waiting for the light of day; to wake up and return to their super-duper friends and super neat jobs. Storm clouds had gathered around the village, covering it with the rain the fields of Ponyville desperately needed for their harvest. The storm clouds were quiet however; only making rumbling noises over the residents of the sleepy city, except over the rainbow-maned Pegasus' cloud home._

"Pinkie? Pinkie… where are you?" Rainbow looked around, with worry in her eyes, at the darkness that now clouded her vision. She couldn't see the pink pony anymore; one minute they were pulling a prank on somepony and the next it was pitch black all around her.

Suddenly the space in front of Rainbow lit up and she was crouching next to Pinkie; she seemed to be snickering about something. She noticed a rather round, fluffy looking bush was in front of her on what looked like the outskirts of Ponyville; she didn't really know where they were, but for some reason part of her wanted to, to truly be happy along with Pinkie.

Her curiosity won out over the current situation and the cyan mare decided to take a peek as to what she was so excited about. Poking her head around the plant, Rainbow saw what was so funny; Applejack's barn door was shut tight with something that looked like glue and the orange farm pony was trying as hard as she could to wrench it open, with little success.

The pink pony's sudden giggling broke her out of her confusion and she turned to face the mare, "Have you ever seen anything more hilarious?" Came Pinkie's cheerful as ever voice to her now perked ears. Her voice always had a way of making her smile, and listen, just to hear her talking… about anything really.

But seeing how upset the cowgirl pony was, Dash couldn't help but burst out laughing with her partner in crime and collapse to the ground in fits of chuckles and giggles, "That was hilarious Pinkie! Did you see the look on her face?"

Silence was her answer.

"P-Pinkie?" She opened her eyes and looked up into darkness again. A wave of guilt she didn't understand came over her suddenly as she stood back on all fours, "Pinkie… What's going on?"

This had been going on for quite a while, and the cyan mare was starting to wonder what this place was. It always happened right when she was happy with Pinkie. Sitting and talking, cloud watching, before they could get close enough–

"Hey Dashie!" A voice called from behind her, making Rainbow jump in shock. She circled around and her vision was over taken by bright cyan eyes and an almost blinding smile, "Wanna help me make some cupcakes?"

Angrily, Dash groaned and stared at the Earth pony, trying to figure out how it was so easy for Pinkie to upset her and to make her so happy all at once.

She stood there in front of her friend; her mouth dry and hung open, her words getting jumbled up in her mouth unable to make a cognitive reply. She had this sudden need to scream out at nothing, at anything, so she could get her mind off of the unwanted heat in the pit of her stomach when the pink mare was so close, "Pinkie, why do you keep…?" She exhaled roughly, sitting on her haunches and looking at her hooves, her anger petering out.

The room was silent; almost eerily so, especially when the pink pony was with her.

She felt another warmth spread through her, being pulled into an unexpected hug; unable to react… to pull away, or look up. But to her surprise… it wasn't an energetic, joyful hug like those Pinkie had presented to her countless times before. Knocking her to the ground or leaving her winded afterwards, due to the force she launched herself at her with; it was soft and welcoming, fore-hooves wrapping carefully around her back, pulling her tighter, and for some reason or other, she felt inclined to return the gesture.

"I know Dashie… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to have planned for so much, but this time we'll have soo much fun making cupcakes together you'll forget aall about being jealous." Pinkie broke the hug before the cyan pony could respond and continued to bounce beside the distraught mare.

"I, uh… J… Jealous?" Was all Rainbow's limited vocabulary could manage as she stood up, looking into Pinkie's bright blue eyes with confusion and slight embarrassment… just a little.

"Come on Dashie, I'll help you." The pink mare chimed in as she settled up next to her, brushing her tail against Dash's accidentally.

Rainbow froze. _What is Pinkie doing? _She blushed as she felt Pinkie's tail brush against her cutie-mark and stifled a gasp at the pony's closeness. _What am I doing?_

Pinkie didn't seem to notice Dash's nervousness and continued to ramble on about the cupcakes, "Oooh you've already made the mix, darn I love to stir it." She swung her hoof in the air in front of her, frustrated for missing out, before shrugging it off easily, "Oh well, they are yours after all. Now all that's left to do iiiis…" Through her troubled thoughts, Rainbow managed to hear Pinkie gasp at her realisation and she regained some of her composure. She was Rainbow Dash after all, "Putting 'em in the oven."

This caught Rainbow a little off guard. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the way she had said it, or maybe just that she thought she would mess up and Pinkie would yell at her… or… maybe it was how the pink pony looked at her.

"Ooh I love this bit…" Pinkie stopped her speech to place a hoof on her chin in thought, "Actually I love every bit of making cupcakes, but this is a super special part of it. Hey Dashie, do you know why it's sooo important?"

"W-Well… uh…n-no. Why?" Dash mumbled weakly as she stared down at Pinkie's hooves; they were almost touching her own. Strangely enough to her, she actually wanted to know why this step was so vital to baking. She also wanted to reach out and touch those hooves with her own.

Pinkie smiled brightly at the cyan mare, "'Cause it's when they go from being all sad and mopey to being super fluffy and tasty… they just need a bit of love and warmth for them to know they can be happy sometimes."

Pinkie's words struck a chord with Rainbow; her eyes went wide, wings spreading out widely and uncontrollably and she gazed into her eyes for her answer. She wanted to know.

"So, Dashie… let's get these cupcakes nice and fluffy." Pinkie slowly wrapped her hooves around Dash and placed them on the bowl carefully, waiting for her to do the same.

Heat spread through Rainbow from the tender hooves around her back to her cheeks and she just stared into Pinkie's cyan eyes. Her wings stiffened, they were almost in pain with how close the pink mare was to her, and she tried to make sense of this. She had been held by the mare tons before, but she began to realise that she hadn't held her quite like this before; she couldn't think of anything else but staying like this forever, finally with her Pinkie… all alone… in a bakery, but still.

As she gazed deeply into her eyes the pink mare's face seemed to heat up too, glancing away slightly from Dash's magenta-colored eyes. They still pleaded for an answer, wanting to know how Pinkie felt for her.

"Uh, Dashie…? You know we should kinda… get these cupcakes in the oven… so… we can…" Pinkie trailed off and managed to look back into Rainbow's eyes, her face flushed with joy at having the cyan mare in such an embrace.

Wordlessly, Dash leaned over and sealed her lips against Pinkie's. Her heart raced. She shut her eyes blissfully with the sweet taste that met her lips… cotton candy and chocolate. A strange combination she thought, but it tasted like nothing else she'd ever tried before. It was indescribable how yummy her lips were, locked against hers.

Pinkie's eyes drifted shut and the warmth she felt from the embrace spread all through her body, consuming her with a happiness she had never ever felt before this moment. She wrapped her hooves tighter against Dash's back and deepened the kiss, pulling her tighter, savoring every taste the cyan mare held in her lips. She was in pony heaven.

They relaxed into the warmth they shared and held onto one another desperately, like if they ever let go of each other, they would disappear. Rainbow began massaging Pinkie's back softly, fore-hooves venturing across her backbone helplessly as she continued into the kiss she tried to deny she had been waiting for, for so long.

The Earth pony moaned pleasantly in response, with her back quickly relaxing into the cyan mare's touch. She moved her own hooves up to Dash's wings and started to caress them, trying to return the bliss she was feeling to the Pegasus wrapped so tenderly in her hooves.

When this earned a surprised gasp from the cyan mare to continue, Pinkie massaged the wings more rapidly, loosening up the strong tensed muscles she had from so much flying around, receiving a soft sigh of approval from Rainbow Dash.

Dash lowered her hooves to Pinkie's cutie-marks and pulled her closer, so their bodies were touching. Pinkie slowly and gently broke from the kiss and brought her forehead down carefully to rest on Rainbow's; eyes shut lightly and happily.

Dash kept her eyes closed too, still lost in the moment of Pinkie's loving embrace.

Realisation suddenly washed over her and she slowly brought her head away from the pink mare's so she could explain what she was doing, her face flushed with embarrassment and pleasure. "Pinkie… I…" She opened her eyes to see the pink pony on her haunches, away from her on the cold floor outside the town hall.

She took a hesitant step towards her, feeling uncertain whether to approach or not for a reason she didn't have, "P-Pinkie…?"

Worried with what she might have done to her, she shook off her anxiety and trotted over to the pink mare, standing silently against her. Reaching out a comforting hoof, Rainbow hesitated. A pool of tears surrounded Pinkie; fresh and heart-wrenching sobs filled her cyan eyes as Dash sat down and wrapped her fore-legs around the trembling form in front of her. It seemed to register with the pink mare and she leaned her head against Rainbow's chest, smiling graciously.

"Th-Thanks… Dashie… For… For being such a good friend to me…" Dash looked up and saw the pink pony a few hooves away, smiling weakly back in her direction.

Her eyes were faded, no longer holding the cheer and hyper-activity they usually always possessed; her mouth still somehow managed to keep a smile on her face, but it wasn't the bouncy joyful grin from any other moment. It was sad and broken, and the cyan mare felt a pang in her heart at seeing her so unhappy. She felt cold, as if all the warmth had drained out and flowed out into the quickly consuming darkness around her.

Pinkie shook her head, knowing she couldn't bring herself to hide her feelings any longer.

Tears soaked her face, fading the bright pink fur into a soft, dull coloration, "Now I can be a good friend to you…" Her smile brightened and her voice perked up with its full bounciness, finally having the energy needed to make her characteristic grin, but the cyan mare already knew she felt no joy in her heart for what she was saying.

The Pegasus' heart sank, knowing full well how the pink mare felt and what she was going to do. She couldn't tell why… why she was so sad, but that only made her feel worse, "By leaving forever…" Those words shook them both. She looked down to the ground with closed eyes and started walking away from the seated Pegasus, unable to look at anything anymore. Not deserving of such company anymore.

Deserving nothing… in return.

Emotions rushed through Rainbow's body and shuddered at Pinkie's last words, "No… No Pinkie… You can't leave… I don't want you to go, I–!"

"PINKIE!" Dash sat up in bed gasping for breath, with sweat and tears pouring down her face. Her magenta eyes darted around her room and settled on the bag Pinkie had given her to carry her stuff to their new homes in Ponyville. Flying over to the bag, she remembered how awkward they had been with one another that day in Manehattan, and on the outskirts of Ponyville.

She sat down in front of it and looked inside. It was empty; she must've pulled everything out of it a while back. Looking out of the window she saw the bright morning sun entering the bedroom. Determination set on her face, she slung the saddle bag over her back and walked over to the door, opening it and stepping out.

She squinted down at the now bustling town of ponies and flew off towards Sugarcube Corner.

_In Ponyville, all of the ponies knew each other and talked to each other and spent lots of time together in between their own busy schedules. Unlike lazy old Manehattan, Ponyville lived on a huuuge to-do list of things to get done within a day and it needed aall of the ponies to get it done on time. It was especially needed when it came to the sweets shop; many ponies every day required loads of candies and cupcakes and drinks and goodies of all kinds… but today was extremely special. The day the Wonderbolts visited Ponyville._

Dash reached Sugarcube Corner in record time… even though she had never actually gone to Sugarcube Corner before, so there really couldn't be much of a record set yet. But of course being Rainbow, she did it anyway.

She quickly pushed the door open with a steady fore-hoof and was met by a noisy bell set-up over the door. She suddenly wondered why a sweets shop would actually have a bed to sleep in, let all alone be able to hold such an excitable pony as Pinkie Pie.

She chuckled inwardly, imagining what trouble the pink mare must have been getting herself into around here this whole time.

An older pony poked her head out from inside the back of the shop and trotted happily over to the front desk to greet the cyan mare, "Well hello there, dearie. You're sure up early, we've just barely opened for the day."

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that… I just… needed to do something. " She shrugged and looked around the store; tons of sweets and goodies that would make anypony with a well-developed sweet tooth salivate instantly. She saw why Pinkie liked this place so much, with all its bright colors and party decorations scattered neatly everywhere across the shop; she thought she could get used to coming here too.

The older mare tilted her head quizzically at Dash, "Oh? What would that be… um?"

She turned her head to the side slightly to show her the saddle bag, "Oh, my name's Rainbow Dash. I'm just here to–"

"Rainbow Dash!" She replied, cutting off Rainbow's speech. "Oh, that's you? Well I'm Mrs. Cake, the partial owner of Sugarcube Corner along with my husband. Oh my, Pinkie Pie has been talking non-stop about you ever since she started working here. Every other word she speaks is about how nice, fun, and pretty you are. She tells me you're a great prankster."

Dash's ears perked and her heart beat faster, "R-Really?" _Pinkie talks about me? _She turned away and fought off the heat she felt in her chest, hanging on the word pretty.

Mrs. Cake nodded pleasantly, "Oh yes. She's upstairs asleep right now in the guest room, but we do need her up quite soon. She was up all night picking flowers with Daisy; it seemed quite important to her when I asked, but she told me it was a secret and she couldn't say anymore. How about you go wake her up Rainbow Dash; I'm sure she'd be happy to see you bright and early. I hear you're a heavy sleeper." She gave Dash a wink with a small chuckle as she turned and trotted to the back of the store.

Rainbow's blush spread across her face as she looked towards the stairs to the upper floor. _She… still thinks I'm pretty… after what I…? _Shaking those thoughts out of her mind Rainbow saluted Mrs. Cake, "I'm on it Mrs. Cake, you can count on me."

As the older mare exited the room Dash lowered her hoof to the ground and felt the warmth spread through her at how much Pinkie talked about her… just her. About being herself and enjoying spending time with her…

With her.

She smiled and lifted her head up to the stairs once more, beginning to trot lightly over to them. She brought her head up to look at the upper floor; she felt a sudden strain in her muscles as she lifted a cyan hoof to the first step. She hesitated and groaned in frustration. _You can do this Dash, _She told herself.

Gulping thickly, Rainbow ascended the stairs with a sudden ache in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know why she had this feeling of dread holding her back, but she couldn't turn away now; she couldn't. She had to see Pinkie before anypony else could.

She hesitated again at the door; her dream running back in her head, watching the Earth pony walk away, and worried about entering while she slept. It didn't feel right to her to enter Pinkie's room so early in the morning. _I should really knock first. _

She told herself that it was because she had never been there before and she wanted to be a nice guest, but she knew the reason why she felt this way was because she was afraid.

No, not afraid.

She didn't get scared; she's never been afraid of anything. But she thought that Pinkie would do the same thing in her position and she didn't want to be rude. That's what she tried to make herself believe anyway.

She brought a hoof up and knocked gently on the bright pink door. She couldn't hear any answer from within the room, so she tried knocking again, "Pinkie? Are… Are you awake?" She carefully nudged the door open with her snout and quietly walked in, her throat feeling dry at remembering what the mare had said to her in her dream.

Looking around at the room she noticed all of the little things she had kept from her home in Manehattan and she felt strangely relieved. She had kept everything from before in that city, and when they left; she also noted that there was additional furniture and other pink stuff all around her.

Her magenta eyes scanned the room of pink and saw the four-poster bed she was very familiar with. She smiled in remembrance that the pink pony had actually managed to fit a whole bed in a saddle bag and carry it all the way here. She wondered if she ever worked out.

She crept silently over to the mirror against the back wall, avoiding the creaky floor boards and settling herself down in front of it when shuffling and snoring noises bounced through her ears. They were soft, almost unnoticeable sounds of calmness, but she knew where they were coming from and a knowing smile graced her cyan face.

She turned and saw the pink mare wiggling and giggling away in her sleep, tumbling around in her fluffy pink blanket; to Rainbow she seemed quite happy to be back in her own bed by herself. She walked over to the side of Pinkie's bed and sat down on her haunches.

At seeing the pony so peaceful in her sleep, Rainbow's heart beat faster and she nuzzled the pink mare, "Wake up, Pinks. It's time to get up."

Pinkie snuggled deeper into bed and returned Dash's embrace dreamily, "Five more minutes, Dashie…"

She seemed a little surprised that the Earth pony knew who was talking to her in her sleep, but shook it off with a blissful smile and drew away. She could let the mare sleep a little more while she took in the memories of their time together.

She looked to the dresser on the side she was on and saw a picture frame of what looked like Pinkie and four very grey ponies. All of them, including Pinkie, had party hats on their heads and huge grins on their faces.

Rainbow smiled and took the picture in her hooves carefully, looking into the cyan eyes of a frazzle-maned widely grinning pink pony. She raised an eyebrow.

"That was just after my first party." Came a voice from beside Dash, making her jump to the side slightly.

She spun around and was met with gorgeous cyan eyes and a sleepy smile, "Is this your family Pinkie?"

With a nod, the pink mare wiggled out from under the covers cutely and jumped up from her bed, swishing her tail back and forth as she trotted happily over to her mirror, "Yep, they're tons of fun."

Rainbow lowered the picture of a frizzle-maned filly Pinkie to look at the grown-up Pinkie before her, trying unsuccessfully to hide the forming grin on her face at seeing how bouncy Pinkie was even in the morning, "But they're so… grey."

Pinkie turned around as she tilted her head to the side in an 'everypony should know that' kinda way, with her mane following swiftly, "Well DUH! They're Rock Farmers, what'd you expect?"

Dash raised a confused eyebrow at this, "Rock Farmers?" She sat down and looked across at Pinkie, with the very good question of 'how exactly do you farm rocks?' on her mind.

Pinkie nodded cleverly and bounced her way back over to stand beside the cyan mare, so they could look at the picture together, "Yeah, it wasn't a very rewarding job… even back then. I never really liked it. Oh, and when my mane was straight all the time instead of–"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rainbow waved an unbelieving fore-hoof in front of her face, looking into her bestest best friend's eyes, "Your mane was actually like that before? If I had known that, I would've stopped by and cheered you up myself." She looked so different, even in the picture she was happy as ever.

Hearing this, Pinkie leaned slowly against the rainbow-maned Pegasus with a smile spread across her pink face, "Thanks Dashie. I know you would have." Pinkie brought her head up to nuzzle Dash's neck and chin and sighed at the contact. Dash, on the other hoof, was blushing with what the pink mare was doing, and even with every fiber of her being telling her to move away, she stayed put, "I made my first party for them, after I saw a super huuuge rainbow shooting through the sky. I just wanted to smile every day after I saw that."

Rainbow rested her head on Pinkie's fluffy pink mane, with warmth spreading through her body at the sweet smells and calmness it held. She shifted her magenta-colored eyes back to the picture and stared at it blissfully. _A rainbow? Hmm… _"So, is that why you and your family look so happy?"

Pinkie turned her head to the picture while softly resting her cheek against the Pegasus' neck, "Yep. The rainbow made me happy and I made my family happy, so the rainbow did most of the work, but it was tons of fun decorating the silo with all those party balloons and streamers."

The two stood in silence, comfortably nestled against each other. Dash was in deep thought about the rainbow until she heard a few sniffs coming from the pink pony. Before she could question her, the pony replied, still trying to sound happy. "They… said I had a gift… and that I sh-shouldn't waste it there."

She wiped a hoof over her snout and managed to slow her breathing down before continuing, "My Mom... said I should… share my gift with all Equestria… that way… I could bring some more h-happiness to everypony that really needs it..." With tears streaking down her face Pinkie buried her muzzle into Rainbow's chest, soaking it with hot tears of bottled up sadness and doubt.

Dash stifled a groan and cradled the pony loosely in her arms, wondering what to do or say. Her story sounded quite like what she would do, and it seemed to her like something she could easily accomplish with her over-exuberance and love of parties, but with Pinkie's tears soaking her cyan fur, she began to think differently.

She remembered back to that first day in Manehattan. A boring day with a blazing sun in the air and busy pompous Manehattanite ponies walking, or carriaging, around the grey city streets and the dull houses in between them.

The day they met.

She felt that same dryness in her throat from seeing her sulking that day returning and realised what the pony must have been crying about.

Pulling the pink mare tightly in her hooves, Rainbow felt a heat overwhelming her as she lowered her head down to rest on Pinkie's mane and closed her glistening eyes. She had no idea Pinkie could even have such a difficult past; a past she was sharing only with her. She didn't quite know what the problem was, but she didn't care. Pinkie was crying; her Pinkie.

They stayed there a while in that heart-felt embrace, never thinking of anything except each other in that moment; seeking comfort from the other before Pinkie could speak again. And when she did, a sad smile had formed on her face, "… I guess I don't have a good enough talent for that." She sniffled and pulled away reluctantly, rubbing her reddened eyes with a shaky hoof.

Dash looked down at the Earth pony and smiled softly, wrapping her wings around the pink pony's body, "That's not true Pinkie. You've… made somepony the happiest pony a pony can get."

Pinkie wiped away her tears and gazed up into the cyan mare's beautiful magenta-colored eyes, "Really? W-Who?"

Rainbow hesitated at this. She wasn't sure how she would say it; she wasn't sure what Pinkie would do if she did say it. She almost chickened out. Almost.

"Me Pinks…" She held the pony tighter in her hooves, finding her courage to tell her more, "I've never been this happy before in my life… and it's all because of you." And that was true; true enough at least for her to understand what that meant. Not even when she had flown faster than anypony else ever had or heard about the Wonderbolts coming to towns to perform their amazing flying stunts had she been happier than this.

Her wings stiffened around Pinkie and warmth spread through the cyan mare's cheeks as she forced herself to keep looking at the mare in her hooves.

Pinkie's eyes lit up, hope shining in them at what the Pegasus had said. Her throat clenched and she whispered softly, "Do… Do you mean that?" A light blush formed in her cheeks as she continued to gaze up at the cyan-colored Pegasus.

Dash's smile brightened at the look on Pinkie's face and she nodded slowly, sure of her feelings for the pony in her arms, "Of course I do Pinkie."

As if just noticing the wings wrapped closely around her, Pinkie lowered her head down as her heart beat faster in her chest; heat spread through her face and she smiled up softly at the Pegasus in front of her. "W… Well, I feel the same way Dashie."

Startled by the expression on Pinkie's face and her reaction to what she had said to her, Rainbow recalled the dream she had in the kitchen with Pinkie and subconsciously stepped closer to her.

Her face flushed and her heart fluttered at the soft embrace. She suddenly felt scared; her Pinkie mind telling her to back away, but for whatever reason she didn't move. Pinkie slowly leaned in, thinking of what the Pegasus' lips must taste like; her gaze never left Rainbow's magenta-colored eyes, trying to detect any apprehension on Dash's face.

The cyan mare hesitated, suddenly feeling like she shouldn't be doing this now until her eyes met with Pinkie's. Locked in each other's beautiful eyes and flushed with happiness at the other's closeness, they leaned in closer.

They were inches from touching; from reliving the dream in the kitchen that morning, when Rainbow remembered the sadness and fear she had seen in Pinkie's eyes from her nightmare. She pulled away, afraid to see it for real and shut her eyes tight.

Pinkie noticed the pained expression on Dash's face as her eyes darted away and she glanced down at the floor miserably. She sat her rump down, feeling a pain shoot through her heart at the Pegasus' actions and her own. _Why am I doing this again? I knew she didn't…_

She gulped thickly and tried to calm her nerves as she watched the Pegasus cringe for a reason she couldn't quite place; she didn't really want to think about it. She quickly pushed her feelings away with a smile and leaned closer, placing a comforting fore-hoof over Rainbow's, "Dash… Dash are you okay?"

Looking down at the Earth mare's hoof and up at her kind pink face, Dash managed to smile back. Seeing the pink pony's bright, concerned face warmed her from her head to her hooves, and she nodded truthfully. "Yeah Pinkie…" But she heard what she called her. She saw the sadness at what she had done, shining through her smile and it made her heart ache. She wrapped her fore-hooves around Pinkie's back and pulled her flush against her chest, "… I'm fine."

Pinkie stared a bit shocked at feeling Rainbow's body against her own, but quickly settled into the loving embrace and returned it, "I'm glad." She rested her head on the cyan mare's shoulder and closed her eyes gently.

"Pinkie!" Came an older voice from downstairs. They turned both their heads to the door, and then back at each other, grinning, "Are you up yet? Today's too nice to be spent sleeping."

Still holding the cyan mare in her hooves, Pinkie called back with a slight blush forming in her cheeks, "Coming Mrs. Cake!" She felt the wings wrapped around her loosen and she lifted her head up slowly to gaze once more into those gorgeous eyes, "Come on Dashie, we've got stuff to do." Not waiting for a reply Pinkie took Dash by the hoof and pulled her out of the bedroom and down the steps, bouncing as she went.

"P-Pinkie…" Came Rainbow's shaky voice from behind her, "… Be… careful."

Pinkie giggled lightly and turned herself to face Dash as she kept bouncing down the steps, "You're silly Dashie. I'm always careful." Bouncing up and landing awkwardly on her hooves, the pink mare fell suddenly forward.

Dash gasped and her wings flew open.

She launched herself into the air and grabbed Pinkie tightly in her hooves, afraid to let go. "Wow, nice catch. I guess maybe I was a little too careful." Pinkie giggled into the embrace.

"Not careful enough I'd say, Pinks." Dash held her tightly, not wanting to let go as she lowered her gently to the ground. Relief spread through her as she came to rest on the floor again and she hovered in the air above the Earth pony.

Once again on all four hooves, Pinkie smiled and looked up at Rainbow with a sparkle in her cyan-colored eyes, "Thanks Dashie, you're always saving me from bad stuff."

Dash landed gracefully next to her pink friend and fluttered her wings shut, smiling over at Pinkie and blushing. _You're worth saving Pinkie. _She wanted to say it; to say it and not caring who heard it, but the cyan pony couldn't bring herself to speak them. Instead she found herself saying, "Of course Pinkie… You're a great friend."

Pinkie's ears drooped sadly against her face as the Pegasus' reply reverberated painfully around in her head. _Friend? _No matter how much she already knew she didn't feel that way about her, she couldn't help but feel sad.

"Pinkie?" Mrs. Cake appeared at the door to the kitchen, breaking the mare out of her troubled thoughts, with an exasperated look across her older face, "Oh, dearie, we could really use your help in the kitchen."

Lifting her head up and looking worried at Mrs. Cake, Pinkie slowly stepped away from Rainbow, but the trouble in the kitchen wasn't what had her so apprehensive to move, "Coming… Mrs. Cake."

The cyan mare's ears twitched at hearing the sadness from Pinkie's response to the older mare's request, but she didn't look up… and only stared at the floor boards she stood shakily on.

Dash immediately started to berate herself at being the cause of these feelings in the pony's heart. But why did she have to feel this way? It wasn't her fault she was so upset; she didn't need to feel bad. _Idiot. You're a great friend? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Show some backbone and tell her!_

She forced herself to look up, and shouted, "Pinkie, w-wait up!" She cantered over to Pinkie and stopped when she glanced back at her.

"Yeah… Dash?" She replied, turning around to face the cyan Pegasus and noticing the worried expression on her face.

"Well… I…" Rainbow gulped thickly. As she locked eyes with Pinkie she bit her lip, unsure of what she should say. She hadn't thought this through very well, "Can I… see how you bake?" She almost squeaked out.

Pinkie raised a curious eyebrow and tilted her head to the side, "You… wanna watch me bake?"

"… Yeah…" Dash struggled out, nodding; her face flushed with heat at the hopeful look the Earth pony gave her.

Hearing the sincerity in Rainbow's voice, and even though her mind told her to be wary and her heart told her to jump at her filled with joy and heart ache, Pinkie just blushed and lowered her head. She felt a little lighter on her hooves, to have the cyan mare with her, "O-Okay. Come on, maybe… I can teach you how to bake?" She ended in a question directed at Dash as her hopes rose once more.

Her magenta eyes shifted to the floor as warmth spread through the rainbow-maned Pegasus; she still didn't like how easily the pink mare could affect her. She recalled her dream and stuttered out weakly, "Uh, w-well… if you think I won't ruin anything."

Pinkie shook her head lightly, "Don't be silly Dashie; we can just start off with cupcakes. Those are easy-peasy."

Seeing the sudden enthusiasm covering the pink pony's face, Dash smiled brightly, "Yeah… sounds good to me Pinks. But… just remember: I warned you ahead of time." She trotted over to Pinkie and walked in beside her. Pinkie was oddly solemn still, but the cyan pony beside her managed to smile.

At least she called her 'Dashie' again. And how Pinkie managed to get away with calling her that was beyond Dash; she must have called her that so much, saying her actually name just didn't seem right anymore. She could never be sure of that though, maybe she was getting soft.

_No way! _She quickly pushed that thought away and decided to think about the upcoming Wonderbolts visit in Ponyville instead.

They rapidly started baking, Pinkie scrambling around for the supplies while Rainbow sat and watched. She was a little surprised to see that the pink pony was a good teacher; telling her the directions in a comical yet demonstrative way to keep her smiling, laughing, and interested.

And she was.

When Dash felt she had messed up on a batch the pink mare would assure her that she did a wonderifical job and would happily gobble one, slightly chard cupcake down with a wide grin.

This always brought a smile to her face, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

When the mix was poured in and the oven had reached the appropriate temperature, 'perfect for making cupcakes', the pink pony had whispered secretively to her, the Earth pony hoofed over the tray for Rainbow to do the honors.

Her magenta eyes lit up and she stared uncertainly into the cyan-colored eyes of the party pony, only to receive a firm, cheerful nod in response. Smiling brightly, Dash took the cupcakes and placed them gently in the oven to cook. She turned the dial to the time the pink mare had said and sat her rump down, sweat pouring down her face.

She wiped a hoof over her forehead, "Whoa, I didn't know baking could be so much work… or this much fun." Rainbow smiled at Pinkie, "You're an awesome teacher Pinks."

She smiled back and sat down on her haunches in front of her, "Thanks Dashie, you're an awesome student." They stayed there, sitting beside each other in silence. They were happy to just sit there after doing so much work, until they heard the doorbell sound. Both rose from the varnished wood floor and trotted up to the counter to greet the first customer of the day.

"Good morning! What'll it be?" Called Pinkie as she bounded up first, still having the energy to be bouncy from already baking so much in the past, "Oh, hi Lyra. You're up early." She smiled brightly at the Unicorn and sat her rump down, ready to hear her order.

"Lyra?" Dash asked, trotting up and placing her hooves on the counter beside the Earth mare.

Pinkie gasped softly and turned her gaze to the confused Pegasus, eager to introduce the new pony to her friend, "Oh, Dashie, this is Lyra. Lyra, this is my bestest best pony friend Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow flashed the light-green Unicorn a small smile, "Hi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Rainbow." Lyra replied. She turned to Pinkie and smiled, "Pinkie, do you remember what we talked about yesterday?"

Pinkie stared in confusion for a moment before her face lit up with realisation, "Oh right, I forgot. Hey Dashie, I kinda promised Lyra I'd help her make some sweets for her friend Bon-Bon's birthday. You don't mind… do you?" Her eyes filled with worry as she looked at the cyan mare, scared to see how Dash would react. She didn't want to upset her more after all. _Oh, I hope she's not mad at me._

Rainbow shook her head and only smiled back, "Go on Pinks. I've got cupcakes to watch. I'll catch up with ya later."

Pinkie turned and hugged her around her middle suddenly; but it surprised the cyan mare with how gentle it was. Almost disappointing, "Thanks Dashie. I'll be back as soon as I can to try your masterpieces, okay?"

She hugged her back and smirked slightly, "You bet… and you'd better." Rainbow smiled and blushed a bit with how that sounded, "I-I mean… I can't eat all of these cupcakes by myself." She forced a chuckle and rubbed the back of her head uncomfortably. _Why does she need my approval to let her go anyway? _She asked herself, trying to ignore the heat she felt that was making her heart beat faster against her rib cage.

Pinkie looked at the cyan mare with sudden concern in her eyes; she pulled Dash tightly against her, resting her head on Rainbow's shoulder and closed her eyes, "I'll miss you Dashie." She whispered with a heat forming in her cheeks.

Dash sat there, stunned for a moment. She could feel the pink mare's heart beat against her chest, "I… I'll miss you too."

Stepping away from the cyan mare, Pinkie sighed. Regret filled her body and tore her away from her Dashie, "I'll be back okay Dashie?" She assured her as she walked to the door with Lyra.

Rainbow chuckled lightly at the worried pink Earth pony, "Don't worry, I'll be here."

The door shut and Dash was left alone, with only the noises of the shop owners baking keeping her company. She walked back to the oven and gazed inside at what she and Pinkie had baked together.

Together...

Her feathers fluttered and the Pegasus smiled softly. Standing up straight, she remembered that Pinkie hadn't shown her how to decorate the cupcakes yet and looked worried. _How… How am I…?_ Dash closed her eyes, hearing a voice almost as a whisper against her ears.

_If you truly have feelings for this pony… _

She opened her cyan eyes and saw the icing resting on the table beside the oven. "This… isn't gonna be easy…"

Meanwhile at Lyra's house, Pinkie was helping her to bake some sweets for the cream-colored pony's birthday. She tried to help her, but the thought of Rainbow being left behind and all alone was eating at her.

Lyra noticed and walked over to the mare-sick pony, "Pinkie? Is everything alright?"

"What? Oh yes, Lyra. Everything's fine." Pinkie replied, lifting her head up quickly and shuffling her hooves around on the hardwood floor.

The concern in the cream colored pony's eyes didn't fade and she stepped forward a little more, "Are you sure Pinkie Pie? If you have any problems, you can tell me."

Pinkie turned her head to the floor before locking her eyes with Lyra's again, "But… But what if I…?" She stopped and closed her eyes tightly.

_Just tell her Pinkie… _She begged herself. _You've told so many other ponies… all except for Dashie, but… if you're never comfortable with telling other ponies how you feel you'll never be able to tell Rainbow. _Pinkie opened her eyes to tell the light-green Unicorn, but was interrupted by a raised hoof.

"I'm sorry; I won't pry anymore. If it's this important to you Pinkie… I'll just let you finish up." She started walking into the other room and stopped at the door to turn back and face the pink mare, "Thanks for all your help; I wouldn't have been able to make all these snacks by myself. III'm not much of a sweets-loving pony, but Bon-Bon loves candied birthday cakes. It's nice to have such a skilled baker here now, it was a lot of work to make her birthday so special before you came here… even with the Cake's help."

She disappeared through the door and Pinkie was left stunned and annoyed with herself. _Urgh, why couldn't I tell her? _She lowered her head down, releasing her frustration and sighing softly. _I wanted to, but… _Her ears perked as a new sound entered them.

Being drawn by the music coming from the other room, Pinkie crept up to the door and opened it slightly to gaze inside. She saw Lyra sitting strangely on a chair and playing a lyre quite carefully to the window and outside. The way she played reminded her of herself, and how open she was when being with other ponies she knew so well.

Seeing how calm she played the instrument to the world settled Pinkie's strained thoughts and she slipped back into the kitchen, smiling brightly. _Dashie, I'm gonna tell you how I feel… today. _She nodded with her new confidence and cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, decorating the candies and the cake with brightly colored icing before saying good-bye to Lyra.

She bounded happily down the streets of Ponyville, courage flowing though her as she approached Sugarcube Corner.

It was late afternoon and Dash had just finished up with icing the cupcakes. She had to say they were quite impressive. She stepped out of the store and wiped a hoof across her fore-head before looking around for Pinkie.

"She's been gone for quite a while. I wonder if she's finished yet…" Rainbow looked back into the store and sighed, "I hope she likes my cupcakes." She began to walk aimlessly away from Sugarcube Corner until she was promptly tackled to the ground by something very pink and very very fluffy.

She looked up quickly, slightly irritated until she saw who had tackled her; magenta eyes met cyan ones and her eyes shot open, "Pinkie, you're back!" She hugged the pink mare tightly against herself before she let her step off her.

"Yep," Pinkie replied, nuzzling Dash as she stepped off to the side, allowing the cyan mare to stand. "How's my favorite feathered flier doing with those cupcakes?"

Rainbow chuckled at Pinkie's rhyme and kicked off of the ground to hover just above the pink mare, "Fine Pinks. Just finished icing them actually. You wanna–?"

Pinkie gasped hugely, interrupting Dash's question and getting her attention, "Oh no, the icing! I forgot to show you how to ice them! Bad Pinkie."

Rainbow stepped forward easily, locking her eyes with Pinkie's once more; there was something about those eyes that made her want to stare at them all day, if the pony would stand still that is, "It's alright Pinkie, I took care of it."

"You did?" Pinkie asked tilting her head to the side quizzically, forgetting the dilemma of forgetting to show her how to properly ice cupcakes.

The cyan mare looked up proudly and placed a hoof on her chest; she felt suddenly confident in her icing skills.

She remembered how difficult it was to hold the package in her hooves, but being here with Pinkie set her mind at ease; she would love her cupcakes no matter what she messed up on. "Yep, wait here." She replied with a smirk and swooped into the store while Pinkie sat her rump down patiently.

_Oh, I wonder what they'll look like. _She thought giddily, shifting her hooves around on the floor. _I bet they'll look super cute, just like Dashie. _She chuckled to herself a moment and saw Dash flying back out with the tray of sweets.

"Well? Whaddya think?" She questioned with just a hint of nervousness in her voice; she still wasn't abslo-tively sure the Earth pony would like her icing skills, but she had to know for sure. Her opinion mattered to her a lot, even if it was on something she had just learned.

She presented the pink mare with a tray full of delicious looking cupcakes. They were each decorated differently; some with balloons and streamers on top of pink and blue icing, and some with lightning bolts and rainbooms across a pink icing sky.

Pinkie's eyes lit up and she squirmed over to sit next to the Pegasus, "They're… They're beautiful Dashie. They all look so pretty… just like you..."

Blushing at the way Pinkie looked at her when she said she was pretty, with a shy smile and half-closed eyes that made her throat dry, Rainbow tried to ignore the question, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She hated not having anything to say; she felt so vulnerable when she couldn't speak or defend herself, especially in front of the pink mare.

"Eeeven though you overdid it with the icing." She looked suddenly playful at the cyan mare, smirking slyly at Dash as she shuffled her hooves around.

The Pegasus' ears perked, locking onto the joking tone of the mare's voice; she felt a tingling sensation in her wings and flushed a little, even if it was about an over-abundance of sweetening. "H-Hey, _I_ overdid it with the icing? What about you? Those cupcakes from that party in Manehattan were coated in the sweet stuff… and what about–!" She stopped again, unable to say anything; unable to move. She felt soft pink lips pressed against her cheek and a warmth quickly enveloped her entire face. Suddenly, Dash felt relief course through her and everything was alright for a moment.

Pinkie pulled away. She felt if she kissed her for any longer her secret would be out and Dash wouldn't feel the same way about her, and she didn't want that to happen. She didn't want to lose her as a friend because of her silly feelings.

"Silly Dashie, IIIIt's fine. There's never too much icing on a cupcake." Her grin threatened to split her face apart as she stared down at the tray Rainbow was holding, her heart fluttering as she thought of something, "So what are we gonna do with them? Are they for anypony?" She tilted her head to the side and smiled up at Dash.

The mare gulped and looked off to the side slightly; she felt uncomfortable again, with Pinkie's deep cyan eyes waiting patiently for an answer, and she hated that she couldn't bring herself to look at her, "They're for you Pinkie. I made them for you… well; you did most of the real work… I just followed your awesome directions and iced them."

"Ooh, best decorating I've ever seen too!" Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air and giggling at the nervous smile the Pegasus gave her in response; a soft blush staining her face.

She locked her bright magenta eyes with the Earth mare and choked out, "I want you to have them." She replied, placing the tray into the stunned hooves of Pinkie Pie and looking away slowly; she wasn't too good with all this emotional stuff. She was a pony of action at all times, not sappy stuff.

Pinkie opened her mouth to say something, but instead only let her jaw hang open in disbelief at being given such a gift. Dash's first iced cupcakes and... she gave them to her… just as a present.

A surprise.

She wrapped her hooves around the cyan mare's neck and hugged her close, "Thank you Dashie… but, I, uh… I want you to have some too. They're too yummy to be eaten by one pink party pony."

"Heh, you're the only pink party pony Pinkie." She chuckled with a smirk, returning the embrace and smiling down at Pinkie. She used to try and keep a cool expression at all times when around her, so she wouldn't have to think about that heat in her stomach she felt whenever she saw the pink mare smile, but now she seemed to be happy despite all that. What was happening to her?

Pinkie drew away from the hug and placed a hoof to her chin, humming a little in concentration; the pony looked up and seemed to be thinking hard. The Pegasus stifled a giggle with a fore-hoof over her snout when suddenly the pink pony brightened up, "Oh yeah." She replied, looking back over at the cyan mare with a grin.

Rainbow beamed at the Earth pony and brought her hooves down to the floor calmly, "Sure Pinks. I haven't had any cupcakes in four days and I exercise a lot anyway, so I'll have a few."

"Ooh, I exercise too!" Pinkie cried out joyfully, bouncing from her right hooves to her left as the tray rested on her fluffy magenta mane.

Amused by what she had claimed and the fact that the tray seemed to be fine perched on top of her mane, Dash raised an eyebrow at the pink mare; surprising herself with how curious she was to hear her answer, "Really?"

Pinkie's ears perked and she nodded truthfully, sitting back down on her rump beside Rainbow, "Yeah, from eating all those sweets my jaw is super strong." She started stretching her jaw muscles and making silly faces at the unprepared cyan mare.

Rainbow Dash nearly fell over from laughing so hard, raising a hoof to steady herself and managed to settle her heart down after a few moments. When she had calmed her nerves, she shuffled closer to Pinkie, "Pinkie… you are hilarious."

Pinkie chuckled and lowered the tray down to the floor for Rainbow to select the first cupcake, pushing it closer to the mare with her snout before smiling softly at her.

Her wings tingled slightly, and she felt strangely relaxed. It was a small gesture, the cyan mare thought, something she would do for anypony else; but the soft smile and the lidded eyes were just for her… and Dash could only blush brightly and pick one.

Planting themselves in front of Sugarcube Corner they relaxed into each other's company, and they started gobbling down the delicious tasting sweets hungrily. Pinkie even thought Dash was faster at eating them now and she stopped chewing.

She looked over at the Pegasus and smirked silently. _I might have some competition at the next 'Cupcake Eating Contest' party._

Rainbow noticed the pink pony had stopped and looked over at Pinkie. She was smiling at her. Just smiling. And all Dash do was stare down at her chest, trying to avoid her eyes. She wanted to tell her to stop making her feel weak and strangely happy at the same time, but couldn't bring herself to speak the words.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash! There you are." Came a timid sounding voice from behind the cyan mare. She turned and faced the voice and her smile relaxed.

"Hey Fluttershy, what's up?" Dash asked, still with a cupcake in her hoof.

"I'm so glad I found you. I have… w-well, that is… something to… ask you..." The yellow mare sank into her light pink mane and looked to the side to see the confused and a little hurt looking Earth pony, "And Pinkie too." She added as an afterthought to cheer her friend up.

This seemed to brighten her mood and she nodded for her to continue.

Rainbow groaned in annoyance and shook her head, "Come on Fluttershy, you've gotta talk louder."

Pinkie gobbled down a cupcake, covered in balloon shaped icing, and giggled at the cyan mare, "Ooh, yeah, and just talk like you're the only pony that can hear you talk and then you'll just have soo much fun talking and making other ponies smile a whole bunch and, hmm mm hm mm…"

Dash muffled the pink mare's babbling with a cyan hoof to her mouth, "I think she gets it Pinks."

Pinkie looked with confusion from Rainbow Dash to Fluttershy. Her eyes lit up in realisation and she nodded, the hoof following her movements, "Mm hmm."

She smiled despite herself, despite what she wanted to feel and what she did feel, and for whatever reason, Rainbow chuckled at her expression of understanding and removed her hoof from Pinkie's muzzle, turning to the timid Pegasus, "So… 'Shy, what did you wanna tell us?"

"Oh, well… since you both arrived so quietly… I thought… well, we could throw you a party… to welcome you to Ponyville properly." Fluttershy explained, shuffling her hooves around; a light blush showing on her cheeks.

A high-pitched gasp erupted through the air and the two Pegasi turned to face the pink mare. Fluttershy looked startled, but Dash only let her smile widen.

"Like a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party? Oh my gosh, I can't believe I never thought of that! Ooh, I have to get everything ready! I…" Pinkie paused suddenly, and stared at Rainbow with her mouth still open, trying to say something.

The cyan mare's grin faltered and she began to worry. She really didn't know what to feel right then, and her heart beat unwanted against her ribcage. "Uh, Pinkie…?"

She stared back in silence, at Dash, before Pinkie was smiling her soft smile at her again. She turned away from her and looked at Fluttershy, "But I can't… Me and Dashie have stuff to do today."

A wave of relief flowed through Rainbow's body; her eyes widened in confusion and surprise, and she let her blush show for a moment until she swallowed thickly. She allowed her thoughts to fly freely in her mind, but she didn't listen to any of them; she was too busy thinking about what the pink pony had said, and denied for her.

Fluttershy looked over at the seated mare and beamed, "Oh, that's no trouble at all… it wasn't… really my idea anyway. Applejack said she would help with the food, and Rarity was working on the preparations when I left looking for you."

"Ooh, yeah," Pinkie started off again, sitting down comfortably beside the cyan mare, "and we can have it after the biiig Wonderbolts party. Whaddya say Dashie?" She turned cheerfully to Dash, feeling joy spread through her at what she said. _It's okay,_ She thought. _This is better than any party._

Rainbow put a fore-hoof under her chin. She had to admit it was a good idea on Fluttershy's part, "Well, I've never been one to pass up an opportunity to celebrate something; and the ponies here do seem to respect me a lot. Why wouldn't they though? I'm awesome."

Fluttershy giggled at the Pegasus, being reminded of her attitude towards almost everypony, "Sure Rainbow… well, um, I gotta get back and help out with the party. I… I'll see you two at the party."

"See ya 'Shy." Dash waved a hoof as the timid mare took off towards the center of town, but Pinkie stayed put.

_But, Dashie… you're awesome all the time… whether you're trying to be or not. _She swallowed, feeling a lump forming in her throat. _How long have they known each other for? They… seem real close… _Pinkie's cyan eyes began to tear up, but she managed to blink them away. She tried to reassure herself that if Rainbow gave her and Fluttershy nicknames so easily than maybe she did that for all her friends…

… It didn't help much…

As if just remembering that she had a cupcake in her hoof, Dash gobbled down the last of her cupcakes and stretched her wings out, "So Pinkie, wanna pull some pranks on these ponies? I'm sure they're a laugh once ya get to 'em."

Pinkie leaned back out of her daze and felt something soft and feathery brush against her fur. She gasped, feeling a ripple of heat across her back. She noticed the strong muscles in Rainbow's wing tense up, but couldn't pull away. She could only look down at Dash's hooves, trying to conceal her blush from the Pegasus.

"Oh, uh, sure," She spoke thickly, stifling the excitement in her voice with a few nervous giggles, "I have a lot of new pranks we can pull and..." She tried to keep herself talking, so she wouldn't feel awkward around Rainbow. She didn't want to feel awkward… not with her. But she couldn't bring herself to say anymore.

The two sat there in silence. Neither one of them made a move, except for their hearts beating against their chests.

Dash was the first to snap out of her stupor. She delicately removed her wing from supporting the pink pony's back and shuffled them both back into place beside her. She stood up and looked down at Pinkie, "Great, uh…"

Another long silence overtook the conversation. Pinkie didn't look up to see the cyan mare's expression; she didn't really want to see.

_Say it. _"Hey Pinkie," She forced herself. _Great, now just… _"do you… want a lift?" She finished uncertainly.

Pinkie shook visibly, feeling a ripple of anguish shoot down her spine. She heard the soft sadness tainting the Pegasus' lips, and wanted to look up… to know what she was thinking, but she stayed put.

"Since you know all these ponies so well already," Rainbow began again weakly, feeling a lump in her throat, "you could just point out the perfect pony for our pranks."

Pinkie looked up, and she saw a sad smile on Dash's face. Her heart sank. She swallowed carefully, and her lips felt dry, "Sure, I'd love to fly with you," The sudden realisation of what that meant came to her and she brightened a bit, "But maybe you should fold your wings up before I jump on. I wouldn't want to hurt your wings again like the first time."

"It's alright Pinks. Climb on." She lied down on her stomach to let the pink mare settle comfortably on her back.

Pinkie nodded silently and hopped up from the floor to clamber onto Rainbow, still trying to avoid her wings. She didn't want to injure her again after all.

Feeling Pinkie settle on her muscular back, Dash stood up again and tested her wings for lift. They felt lighter now, almost weightless to her, and a smirk spread across her face.

She took off, rapidly soaring up into the clouds. She tore through them, increasing the strain on her wings and soaring forward. She smiled at finally being up there again. She heard Pinkie gasp and wrap her hooves more tightly around her neck as she looped around. A wave of adrenaline shot through her. She grinned and picked up speed, zigzagging through clouds sharply until she released the tension in her wings and slowed down.

Exhilaration flowed into the pink mare at being in the air with Rainbow again. As Dash slowed down Pinkie smiled brightly and shouted out, "Wooo!" She relaxed her grip on the Pegasus a smidge and glanced below at the ponies.

The rainbow-maned pony looked down at Pinkie's hooves and smiled softly. She felt strangely calm now, and she couldn't tell why, but she just watched the clouds as they rolled past her instead.

"Hey Dashie, I can see your house from here!" Pinkie suddenly called from her back.

Rainbow's ears perked and her smile widened. She chuckled at the pink pony's excitement; it would always cheer her up. She turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder, "So Pinkie, see any good prank opportunities?"

Pinkie went suddenly quiet, and Dash started to wonder what she said. She turned her body to the side, trying to see the pink mare better, "Pinkie?" Her fear turned to confusion… and then to stifled chuckles, and a fit of giggles at the look of strict concentration on Pinkie's face.

She sat stock still on Rainbow's back and gazed out over the town. Her cyan eyes lit up and she looked back over at Dash, "Oh Roseluck's going to set up all those flowers I helped her pick for the Wonderbolts' arrival. We left 'em all at her store… and I… kind of… forgot to return the spare set of keys she gave me?" She smiled wryly and lowered her gaze away from the steadily smirking Pegasus pony.

"You Sneaky Pie…" Rainbow said before she could stop herself, "no wonder I like hanging out with you so much, you're my kinda mare." She turned away immediately, blushing furiously at what she thought that would mean to her.

"I am?" Pinkie replied instantly; her hearing focused in curiosity, outweighing the slight warmth in her cheeks.

The Pegasus didn't answer. She couldn't… not while the mare lay on her back, when she couldn't see the reaction on her face. But she had to say something, "Well, y… yeah you… kinda make me think of stuff I never thought before…"

She turned her face to the skies once more; not wanting to look back at her anymore and see the same curious, intent look on her pink face. All she could do was blush; she had no idea why she said those things. They just… slipped out and now she berated herself for letting such an obvious statement slide without her allowance. Her wings tensed a bit, waiting for Pinkie to keep talking in that calm but quick voice she envied so much.

She expected Pinkie to keep asking in her absentminded way of asking anything anypony else would normally be difficult to get across, but she heard nothing. No answer. No reply.

She started to worry again- _No, not worry. But… she's just so… quiet… _"Pinks?" She turned to one side slightly, but still not looking directly at the pink mare.

"Hmm?" Came a sweet-sounding voice from behind her. It was soft and soothing, but it also held a certain sadness she couldn't place, "What is it Dashie?"

"N-… Nothing." She managed to smile despite herself, feeling safe enough to leave it at that and lower her guard when with Pinkie. She soared gently down to the bushes just outside the flower shop on the corner.

She eased herself into the bush and kneeled down; letting the Earth mare get off before she sat up on her haunches, "Alright Pinks, what's the plan?"

Pinkie smirked and talked Dash through her idea; when she had finished the cyan mare couldn't help but snicker at another brilliant Pinkie Pie scheme. Rainbow Dash wondered a lot on how Pinkie could think up such pranks. Pranks that were deviously simple, in order to satisfy the prankster, yet be light-hearted enough to make the prankie laugh a little as well… or was it pranket?

Either way, it was kind of unfair how she managed to get away with it; and utterly fascinating to think of how her mind actually came up with such plans at the same time.

Her thoughts now focused on the task at hoof though. Pranking Roseluck.

The pink pony told her that Roseluck loved tending to her flowers. Most of all the flowers at the front of her shop. She had told Pinkie of her wonderful collection of prized daisies, azaleas, and pink carnations countless times during their day in the field, and she had been happy to hear it. Now, being the magenta-maned Earth pony obviously had its advantages, but Dash wondered whether or not the pink mare actually thought things through. Did she think knowing that her flowers were so regarded by her would come in hoofy later on, or was she just being a nice pony? It was hard to say for sure.

There were so many confusing things about Pinkie that Rainbow couldn't yet understand. Mostly how hyper-active and cheerful she could be all the time; but there was also the sad, lonesome side of her that she had first seen. A side she'd rather like to forget, but kept popping up whenever she got to close. Close enough to feel her side tickling her fur, making her shiver. The way Pinkie looked at her sometimes with those same wide cyan eyes of hers. Eyes that made Dash want to wrap her hooves around her; holding on until she stopped staring.

She couldn't think of that stuff now though; she had to focus. Pinkie was counting on her.

She lay crouched inside a bush; eyes sharp and trained on their targets. A windowsill full of flowers and the pink mare standing off behind the corner.

_I heard from some ponies that Roseluck leaves for a snack break every day at 10 and comes back a-quarter-of-an hour later, _Pinkie had explained matter-of-factly. _That leaves us plenty of time._

_Time for what? _She had asked.

_Whenever Roseluck leaves and comes back from something, she doesn't pay any attention to anything but until she sees her flowers. _Dash unknowingly raised an eyebrow at remembering the smirk… quickly, but sneakily forming on the pink mare's face as she spoke.

_How could she possibly know that? _The cyan mare remembered asking herself; but despite her disbelief that she might have been right about that, kept her eyes on Pinkie.

_So, _She continued cryptically. _It gives us plenty of time to rearrange all her flowers, and she won't know what happened._

Rainbow rolled her eyes again. She had lost count how many times she'd done so this week with the pink pony and just went with it. Not complaining. Now that she thought about it, it had been a good prank. Not too complex and easy to do, and all the work – and utter confusion, in this case – was done by the victim as they tried to figure out what was missing.

If Dash had a watch right now, she'd be staring at it, waiting for time to move its lazy flank so she could get to messing with Roseluck's garden.

Pinkie suddenly appeared from around the corner, bouncing happily along in her usual mood. Nothing was off about her at this moment, just Pinkie being her springy self. She licked her lips in anticipation, and her heart started pumping with excitement; this was what she loved to do, to feel like. She would have to thank Pinkie for showing her that one day. Maybe.

A hoof wave, and she was off; carefully, but quickly pulling the flowers out and replacing them haphazardly around the hangers on the windowsill. She saw Pinkie helping too; keeping a steady watch on the road in case Roseluck arrived back early.

As she stole glances at the pink mare, to see how she was going with her planter, she began to feel panicked. Not because she wanted to look at her or anything, but she felt worried. Like something wrong was going to happen soon, and she couldn't prevent it. She shook that thought off before she could answer herself and dove back into the bush with Pinkie close behind.

Surprising Rainbow, and making her want to ask if Pinkie was psychic or something, Roseluck came back at 10:15 to continue with her day. She didn't know where she went or why she had to go somewhere to eat anything, but tried not to think about it. She also tried not to think about how she didn't seem to be focused on anything until she caught sight of her flowers on the sill, like Pinkie had told her.

In Dash's eyes, the Earth pony's plan worked. She totally flipped, not understanding what had happened, but knowing that something was out of place. She seemed so shocked by the situation in fact that she couldn't even bring herself to touch the flowers, only 'umms' and 'uhhs' escaping through her lips.

Rainbow's snickers rapidly turned to a fit of giggles and a flash of color as she fell out of the bush and on to the ground; she held her sides together and squirmed on the floor until her breathing slowed.

"Have you ever seen anything more hilarious?" She managed to squeak out between chuckles. She heard no response, "Pinkie?" She sat up on her haunches.

The bush she had lay in with the mare was empty; looking cold now, and unwelcoming. She felt that same feeling of dread again; in the pit of her stomach, and found it more difficult to shake off this time.

A soft cough of acknowledgement drew her attention back to the Roseluck's flower shop. Ears perked, she turned; for some reason expecting Pinkie to be behind her with another prank on her, but instead found herself nose to nose with an upset-looking green-eyed pony.

She smiled nervously, "Uhh… heh…" Was all Dash could say.

Rainbow was exhausted. She had just gotten away from an annoyed Roseluck, who made her replant all the flowers in the correct order and made her do a few chores around the shop to make up for the joke. She collapsed on her haunches and groaned thickly.

"Rainbow Daaaash!" Came a high-pitched voice from behind her. She thought for a moment if she should have just ignored its owner; if it sounded like it usually did, all cheerful and peppy, she probably would have. But it wasn't her usual tone or excitement; it was a kind of shaken voice that tried to sound happy, like she had lost her pet animal and was trying not to let anypony know that she missed them.

Dash knew Pinkie didn't have anything of the sort, but it still struck at her hoof-tips and made her wings twitch anxiously. She wheeled around, expecting to get tackled by the mare as soon as she did so. One had grown to expect such things from the Earth pony by now, but it never happened. Instead, Rarity stood upright and annoyed in front of her; Pinkie trailing behind at a slow trot. Not bouncing, just a normal pony stride.

For some reason it wasn't the pace at which Pinkie was going that struck Rainbow as odd, or out of place. It hadn't troubled her as much as her eyes were; reddened and puffy, like the day they met. Except today was different. She wasn't crying because she wasn't welcome at a mane salon, or because everypony thought she was annoying; that wasn't why. And Dash didn't know what to say.

"Rainbow Dash," Rarity started strictly, "we have been looking everywhere for you. Pinkie was worried you had disappeared."

"Oh really?" Rainbow countered before thinking, "And where was she this whole time?" Her chest twisted at speaking those words; feeling a sharp pain through her as she saw the pink mare flinch.

"That's none of your business," The elegant mare stated flatly, turning sideways to stare worriedly at Pinkie. She didn't look back, only down at the ground where she had been scooped up so suddenly before.

Rainbow's brow furrowed a bit, and was about to shout out; but her eyes shifted to Pinkie, and Pinkie looked back at her with her wide apologetic cyan eyes. Suddenly, everything seemed okay again, and her anger washed away. Everything was okay, but the sad look on the pink mare's face; meant for her, and she felt guilty for yelling at her.

Rarity sighed and backed up to stand next to Pinkie, "She was with me." And Dash looked back at the Unicorn, confusion etched on her face, "I needed to know what size dress she was, so I had her try it on. Then she… wanted candies and brighter colors for her dress. And… being the noble pony I am, gave her the benefit of the doubt. I had no idea it would take this long though."

Rainbow had stopped listening when she heard Pinkie had tried on her dress; without her being there to see her. Her mind switched to imagining the pink pony in such high-class attire, yet still able to hold onto her happy-go-lucky attitude and appear out of nowhere and know everything that happened. She envied her a lot, and kind of wished that she could be like her in some ways; but then remembered that other side of her. The side in front of her now, and her fantasies shifted.

A comforting fore-hoof on her shoulder snapped her out of it. She glanced back up in a daze, "Anyway, I apologize for taking up so much of your time, Rainbow Dash." She looked solemnly at Dash, waiting for her to respond.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. It wasn't to convince the two ponies that she was sorry for yelling at them, as much as it was to try and tell herself that she didn't actually do anything wrong just then. "Oh, no problem, it's fine." Then why did she feel so numb all of a sudden? So hurt by something she couldn't see or picture in her mind.

Rarity nodded slightly and tossed her mane behind her neck, "Well, I look forward to seeing you two at the Wonderbolt's party tonight. I do hope you'll take some time at the party to speak with me about what you've been through together." She smiled and departed, leaving a gap between the two other ponies that was difficult to fill at this moment.

Dash turned to the pink mare, looking to say something; but instead, let her mouth hang open slightly in mild shock. _Why did she look so sad? Why were her eyes so red? Why won't she look at me anymore? "Pinkie?"_ She had struggled out.

"_Yes Rainbow Dash?"_ Came the uncharacteristically quiet answer to continue from Pinkie, as if she had expected it to be bad for some reason.

She swallowed again at hearing her full name come from the Earth pony's lips. _Is she sad because… _"Do you wanna keep pulling pranks?" She wanted it to sound sincere. Like she really meant what she said; but whatever it was, whether it was actually there or not, Rainbow felt a shake in her voice. An uncertainty so minor she would have overlooked if not for the pink pony lifting her head up to look at her finally. Finally, but not the way she wanted.

"Really? You still want to?" Her voice was quiet and uncertain, and maybe a little fearful, but Dash couldn't pick up on what that meant.

"Um, sure." Came her dry response; dry in the sense that she didn't put much tone into saying it and dry in the sense that her throat was sore. She regretted saying it at first; but seeing the pink mare's eyes lit up again made her feel a little better.

Pinkie nodded suddenly, a smile that was softer than usual crossed her face, "Okay, come on. I've got a lot of prank ideas for everypony here already." She never approached Dash for a hug, to reunite after being away a few short hours like always; instead she almost seemed to avoid contact with her, and Rainbow regretted that she did.

Normally Pinkie would have rushed off bouncing, looking back only to scold Rainbow jokingly for being so slow; but this time, she glanced back at Dash after four soft steps and smiled an extremely sad smile that the cyan mare couldn't bear to look at.

_What was wrong with her?_

_With me?_ And Rainbow Dash trotted up next to her.

The day drew on, and every prank they attempted to pull on the unsuspecting inhabitants of Ponyville either ended too soon, as Pinkie was scooped away quicker and more distantly from the Pegasus, or was interrupted by somepony needing her help with their own matters or matters involving the Wonderbolts before the two ponies could have a good laugh.

It hurt each other to feel divided; incomplete for some reason, and helpless for it. On once such prank Dash had brought a cake. And whether or not it was made by her, it still left the Earth mare winded and unable to respond. But before Rainbow could explain further what the cake was for, only managing to say that it was for her, a Pegasus pony flew in and urged Pinkie to see the mayor of Ponyville. She didn't have much time to react and could only look back over her shoulder.

Dash left with the cake on her back; Pinkie watching her go.

She needed to get away from all these ponies. They were cutting into her time to spend with Rainbow Dash, and she needed to be with her now. Needed to. She managed to pull away early from Mayor Mare as she spoke of how pleasant it was to have her in Ponyville, by saying she was needed elsewhere and cantered off to find the cyan mare sitting at a restaurant table; a large hay sandwich sitting untouched on a plate in front of her.

She went to speak, but her jaw just hung open slightly; unable to penetrate the wall of silence encasing her mouth and the world around her and Rainbow. Her heart pounded heavily against her ribcage and her chest clenched, and Dash looked up.

She looked up and saw her face; the exhausted, exasperated expression on her face only lasted a second. But it was enough for Rainbow Dash to notice.

She didn't say anything; neither of them did. Then Pinkie felt something, something she hadn't felt those other times. Panic. She couldn't take the pained look in those magenta eyes anymore, "Dashie, I–"

"Pinkie!" Came a gruff, southern accent from behind her, "They're y'all are. Didja forget that you was supposed ta help me with mah apple buckin' tonight?"

"No of course not, but…" Pinkie stammered and gestured slightly to Rainbow Dash.

"Just go…" She spoke with wings flared suddenly, interrupting her excuse as to why she couldn't go. "I'll catch up with ya… later." She added it as an afterthought and slumped in her seat, wings drooping. A searing heat washed over her; but it wasn't a pleasant feeling or an angry one. It made her feel weak somehow, and that was the last thing she wanted to feel right now.

The words she spoke felt ice cold; stinging just enough to make Pinkie feel strangely warm, but she knew it wasn't the kind of warm she'd felt all the other times. It was a dull knife that cut deep, and all she could do was walk away and look back… only once.

It was in the evening by then, that Rainbow got up… and left her sandwich uneaten. She wasn't hungry anymore.

As the two were bucking apples, Applejack saw that Pinkie was troubled. She had a way with honesty that she could tell when a pony was feeling down; either that or the pink mare just wasn't so good at hiding her feelings anymore, or didn't even want to.

So she walked over and told her lightly that she was kicking the apples out of an already bucked apple tree. "You okay, sugarcube?" She prodded gently, concern present in her southern accent.

Pinkie lifted her head up to look at the tree and heaved a big sad sigh; it made her tremble with how much pain seemed to come with it. It hurt her throat, and she took a glance towards the orange mare. She turned, but stayed put; choosing to sit down on her rump and shaking her head some more, "No, I… I'm not Applejack. I need to talk to you about something."

Pinkie's cyan eyes seemed to be holding back tears, and the cowgirl pony gave a soft smile in return, "Alraght, whatcha wanna talk about?"

Pinkie's gaze shifted from Applejack's green eyes to her own hooves, "Well… let's say there's this pony… and I like her, them a lot…" She began to sweat and her cheeks turned beet red.

"Okay," Applejack nodded in understanding; she was smirking slightly now, "Uh, would this here pony happen ta be a mare, Pinkie?"

"_Yes," _Had come her reply; she had chuckled it out, and that time almost felt happy again.

"Well Pinkie, ah… ah wish ah could help ya, but ah'm not sure how ta help with that sorta thing." She scratched her neck a bit, and turned a bit red in her cheeks.

Pinkie shuffled her hooves around calmly; surprising herself with how peaceful she felt now, "Dashie came by earlier when we were pranking and brought a cake for me… I didn't know what to do. She still has the cake and I… had to leave." She looked up and saw the orange pony tilt her head to the side; like she was asking her to continue, so she could understand. And Pinkie did, swallowing thickly, "She asked me out a few days ago, and I said yes. But she– She dropped by with a cake; to ask me out properly… I don't know what to do Applejack."

"Wait a minute… Dashie?" The orange mare put her hoof to her chin and seemed to be in thought as to what the pink pony had said.

Pinkie gasped instantly upon hearing that she had let her nickname for Rainbow Dash slip out. Telling somepony else about her name for Dash seemed wrong to her, making her flush suddenly for some reason; her heart pounded against her chest and felt it knot and twist, "I didn't say–"

"It's alraght Pinkie. Ah won't tell anypony. Ah don't even know a Dashie." She smiled sincerely, and Pinkie felt inclined to believe she wouldn't tell.

She nodded lightly at Applejack as her cheeks still burned, "Oh. Thanks Applejack."

"No problem Pinkie… but, uh… do you know what goin' out means?" She asked with concern, her expression changing to one of disbelief; Pinkie vaguely thought of asking her about it, but didn't want to make her upset.

Instead, Pinkie placed a hoof under her chin and the flush in her cheeks faded into mild concentration; something she was good at, to make herself feel better, "Hmm. Well I know what eating out is and take out is basically the same except the food comes to you…"

"Pinkie…" Applejack spoke softly, trying to break her out of whatever she was doing; but Pinkie kept going.

"…and I know what making out is, although I've never done that before, but…"

"Pinkie Pie." She tried again, a blush at what the mare said forming on her already flustered face.

"…and I also know a recipe for cupcakes, but I would never, ever, ever use it on Dashie and–"

"PINKIE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs; which, Pinkie imagined afterwards, was pretty high.

But now she just heard a slight ringing in her now folded ears, "Oh. Yeah?" She raised them after to hear her response.

Calming her nerves, Applejack finally spoke; glad that the pink mare had at last stopped, "Pinkie Pie, being asked out means that pony likes ya."

Pinkie's ears stood straight up and she felt suddenly giddy, wanting to hear what Applejack say it again; she considered again how the cyan mare acted around her. Nervous and tense, but strong and secure at times too.

"Yea," Came Applejack's swift reply, and she stepped closer, "an awful lot ah reckon, considerin' she gotcha a cake an' all. Did she tell ya if she made it herself or not?"

"_No,"_ She had replied a little more sadly; but then she remembered today, and how Rainbow Dash had yelled at her. And looked at her. And didn't look at her. "Dashie… I gotta go. I gotta see her and share that delicious looking cake with her."

"Go on sugarcube. Ah got it under control; thanks for your help all the same."

"Thanks Applejack. You're the best friend a pony could ask for." Pinkie gave her a big huge and a happy smile, and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Go on, girl. Go get 'er already." Mock annoyance showed through in her words, and Pinkie nodded gently, but sincerely before departing. She had a pony to see.

Rainbow Dash felt horrible. Pinkie had ditched her all day and didn't seem to care; she even went off with Cloudkicker to watch her practice or something, and with Applesmack to apple buck.

_No, no your other left. Oh, I told you there was a swarm of bees coming here._

She couldn't hear, but it looked like they were having fun in the field. Why does she even have these feelings? They make her scared and vulnerable; something she absolutely hated to be. She remembered how the two used to be. They could talk to each other so easily before; now it felt like a wall was between them.

She looked up to the skies suddenly, no longer wanting to look at the ground under her hooves and instead looking up at the stars. Her heart shook quickly, and she felt nauseous.

"_Please… give me the strength… to hate Pinkie," _She had said. _"I can't take these feelings anymore." _Her chest twisted in knots, anxiously. She took off into the evening, trying to forget what had happened and what she had said immediately.

Rainbow Dash didn't know why she was doing this; walking with Pinkie to the Wonderbolts. She didn't feel comfortable, and she still wanted Pinkie to walk closer to her; until she was touching, but she never did. She actually looked solemn; choosing from a list of expressions Dash had never seen or known about before, and it made her worry. But why did she need to worry? She didn't do anything wrong.

She had picked her up from Sugarcube Corner, much to the delight of the Cakes and were now at the entrance of the town hall. Immediately upon entering the hall, music and loudly chatting ponies filled their ears; Rainbow looked around trying to spot her heroes. They had arrived quite late; the Cakes fussing over Pinkie's dress while both Pinkie and Dash said that she looked fine, blushing quickly afterwards and bringing warm smiles to the store owners. Now though, everypony was here and she couldn't see anything over the pony's heads. She was just about to take flight; checking her wings for safety, before she was pulled back and into a room by the entrance.

She fell on the floor of the room and heard the door lock; she looked up, supporting herself from her back on her hooves.

"_Pinkie? What are you doing?"_

"_Oh, Dashie, you need to stay in here. 'Cause if you go out there something really bad will happen to you."_

Her wings tingled, feeling rigid against her body and leaving her with an unwanted heat._ "Pinkie, what the hay is going on? Get outa my way!"_

"_No Dashie, you won't like what's out there; you don't know what you're–"_

"_That's enough, Pinkie; I need to see the Wonderbolts so I can show them my stuff!"_

Pinkie stepped away from the door suddenly and her ears drooped; mane deflating visibly. She trotted ahead of the pink mare and tried the doorknob. Somehow it was locked from the opposite side, and she instead chose to hit the door with a heavy hoof. She yelled for help, but nopony answered; the crowd was shouting loudly at what Dash imagined was the mane attraction. The Wonderbolts.

"_You… want to go with them?" _Came the soft, shallow voice from behind; and Rainbow had turned back, wings flared aggressively. She didn't think of what she said next.

"_Of course I do!_ Why do you think I have tons of posters and pictures of them?"

"_But… But Dash–"_

"_Stop it Pinkie! I–I need to find a vent to find them through. Aha!" _She had flown up and taken the cap off, flying into it eagerly; Pinkie stared wide-eyed and startled at the vent that had so recently been used by the cyan mare.

"… _Dashie."_

Dash crawled through the vents and ducts and could make out glimpses of her heroes through the rafters, but couldn't get to them or call them; much to her irascibility. Her ears perk at hearing that the mane reason for the Wonderbolts coming to Ponyville was to see the pony that had performed the first Sonic Rainboom ever, and was about to start calling out; but suddenly heard careful hoof steps behind her. Cheerful, bouncy hoof steps becoming increasingly clear. Part of her really missed hearing those joyful bounding hooves, and she whipped around quickly to see Pinkie approaching rapidly.

A bright smile graced Pinkie's face for once, and Dash felt her heart melt a little; almost regretting what she had said to her. _I can't trust you to be this happy anymore._

"Rainbow Dash! I finally found you!" She called, landing softly against the floor of the vent every time until she reached the Pegasus.

"Pinkie? What are you doing here?" Was all she managed to say, without surely breaking into an unwanted grin of her own.

"I came to help you meet your heroes so you can be truly happy again." She answered truthfully; but her heart still ached for what had occurred before. What she had done.

Dash's smile threatened to consume her face; she started to think of what had happened over this time, to make her so unwilling to open up to the pink mare. But she was interrupted by a clank from below her; and a creek, and soon she knew what was wrong. "Pinks, no! It's not strong enough to hold us both!"

Unfortunately, that realization had been reached too late as the vent collapsed on them; pushing them into one another awkwardly and bursting through and onto the floor below them. Before she hit the ground, Rainbow vaguely heard the end of the retelling of Cloudkicker's description of the Dash and how great and awesome she had made her out to be. The embarrassment not only of falling out of a vent onto her heroes' stage, but also having Pinkie settled uncomfortably on top of her and her legs inter-twined together, was enough to make the cyan mare turn as red as red could be. But it only lasted a minute as everypony discussed who the two ponies were and why they were so tangled in each other's hooves, and the Wonderbolts, taking this time to ask themselves why they had fallen from a ventilation shaft, for Dash's odd want to stay like this passed by to be replaced by blind fury.

"_Look at what you've done! You've ruined my chance to impress the Wonderbolts! You stupid pony! You wanna help? Then stay the buck outa my life!"_ She had taken to the air in a huff, suddenly not wanting to see the look of pure shock and horror on the Earth pony's face and left the teary eyed pink mare behind.

The stage was silent; so were all the ponies around it, and after a while Pinkie got to her hooves warily to look at where she had watched the cyan pony leave through. Her heart ached and ached to go back and never do this again; her heart and spirit breaking at the seam, _"I… I'm sorry… Dashie. I'll never… be around to bother you again." _She had said between sniffles and tears, and through her straightened mane that now lay in front of her face.

Back at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie had begun to pack; she still had her bag from their trip together from Manehattan, but she couldn't handle holding it in her hooves anymore. She let it fall to the ground and turned away from it; but she heard a faint cry from above her bedroom. She crept over to the window and could hear a pony calling her name.

"Pinkie Pie! I'm sorry; I didn't mean what I said. Please come back! Please…" She spoke the last word so softly, Pinkie almost didn't pick it up; but she had, and she felt her chest twist and tangle.

"I'm sorry too Dash, but this is the way it has to be. I'll just leave so you won't have to bother with a stupid pony like me. Then… then you can see your heroes and live your dream. You really deserve it." She heard the flapping of passing wings as the cyan mare flew away, and she felt a strong regret for not answering her. Her eyes drifted along the floor of her rented room, gathering tears and letting them flow down her pink face again, until she spotted a picture lying on the ground. She recognized it and slowly stepped over to the bag once more, taking it in her hooves and looking at it with a sad smile plastered on her face.

She brought it onto her bed and lay down with it, feeling a sudden relief wash over her at having such a special reminder of Dash's dedication. She fell asleep, clutching it to her chest.


	7. Chapter 7

"With all your insecurities you can do anything."

Chapter 7

Soothing Hearts and Cherished Memories

_Under the calm night sky, in Ponyville, two ponies danced to a tune nopony but themselves were hearing; draped in happiness and in one another. Their hearts beat in unison, sharing this moment with nopony else; leaning against each other and tangled in each other's hooves and tails._

"_Kiss her! Kiss her!"_

Eyes closed, Dash sat on her haunches, outside the town hall; she didn't feel like going anywhere right then, her frantic search for the pink mare failing terribly, and the noise coming from the building wasn't much comfort. She couldn't go back there now, not with all those ponies and the Wonderbolts seeing her act like that; her one chance to impress them was surely gone.

"Jus' what in the hay was that all about?" A Southern accent broke the cruel silence of the night outside, and Rainbow's ears perked; she recognised that pony's voice immediately, but was too exhausted to be mad and settled for uninterested.

"What do you want Applesmack?" Dash turned to face the orange mare and snorted slightly.

"Ah wanna know why ya'll were shoutin' at Pinkie Pie," Her answer came as a surprise to Dash's ears; but she should have known to expect this.

"Because she had it coming that's why…" A sharp reply, tainted with regret and shame; and Dash knew Applejack saw threw it. She looked down at the ground miserably, "She deserved it… for all the things she's done to me…" She remembered her dream again, and immediately hated that statement.

Applejack gazed down at the cyan pony and smiled softly with a hunch, "You're Dashie, ain'tcha?"

"Huh?" Dash lifted her head from staring at the ground; hope to wait the cowgirl pony out all but forgotten.

"Pinkie… whenever ah was with 'er the only thing she would talk about was how great her Dashie was-"

"Oh yeah? Well what about all the plans huh? Even you. She'd rather hang out a buncha ponies she's just met than spend time with her… bestest best friend."

"Ah yeah, the plans with ponies; she told me 'bout that too," Applejack strolled over easily and sat down next to Rainbow Dash; she heaved a relaxed sigh as she looked towards the stars that had risen from their slumber, and now dotted the dark blue skies above, "After ah cheered 'er up from the first time she was here, she still seemed a might mopey over this Dashie o' hers. So when ah had dropped 'er off at Sugarcube Corner, ah asked if she would like to help me with apple buckin'." Dash stared over at Applejack, interest showing through in the mare's eyes, "She seemed quite taken by the whole thing, so I thought why not; if it made 'er happy."

Dash's mind hung on that last word, but she stayed put; ears perked, listening to Applejack continue. "But when ah did ask about it she told me she could only do it in the evenin'. Said she had already made plans with Daisy to help with the floral arrangements for the Wonderbolt's shindig tonight and needed all the time in between then ta hang out with another pony named Dashie, er somethin'. Ah reckon that pony's somethin' special to 'er."

Without another word to the rainbow-maned Pegasus, Applejack got up and tipped her hat before heading back to Sweet Apple Acres; it was both a relief and a punishment to Dash, to have her leave. She had this time now to think, which was good because she had a lot on her mind right then and needed to figure it all out, and bad because she had nopony to talk to or ask questions about the multitude of puzzling thoughts she suddenly had.

It bothered her, "Then, what the hay was with all the other ponies?"

Eyes closed.

_The two ponies looked startled at first, not knowing what to do or say or even quite what had been said; but they ignored all the commotion and looked to each other instead. Tails flicked back and forth as they danced, and their bodies drew closer._

Dash woke up late in the morning and found herself back in her cloud home, having flown home after the party was finished. She didn't want to be seen by anypony after what she had done, an unwelcomed fear gripping her; and she flew away.

She had had no dreams that night. No dreams of baking cakes or pranking or being held close by soft pink hooves. She wanted to take that as a good thing; that she didn't wake up in a cold sweat with her wings spread out beside her, but she couldn't think of anything else.

She lay there, in her cloud bed, unable to move; not wanting to get up and look outside. Her thoughts drifted back to her frantic search for the pink mare last night.

"_Pinkie Pie! I'm sorry; I didn't mean what I said. Please come back. Please… don't leave me here all alone."_

Tears welled up in her magenta eyes. She had never felt like this before; weak and alone. Dash had always been the pony to get all the attention; she was known by everypony back in Cloudsdale as their best flier, and she acted tough and together, because she feared if she didn't show off and aim to be the best nopony would like her for just being herself. And now she knew because of what she had done nopony would see her that way, not even as a nice pony just… cruel.

It was always the outer shell showing; always trying to be better, to be respected and admired, never letting her emotions take over and never letting anypony get in the way of her achieving her goals. And now they wouldn't speak to her again because of that, especially Pinkie Pie.

Her parents had never appreciated her; pushing her to her limits to be stronger and faster and punishing her if she wasn't perfect. That's what had started it all. She was never afraid of anything. Not falling or getting hurt; not even her parents, eventually getting used to all the hateful words her parents spoke to her. She'd run away from them a long time ago; and she felt better for it, but now…

Dash hated to be alone. Nopony to see her or comfort her or tell her everything would be alright.

She was the best young flier to ever come out of Cloudsdale, and the first pony ever to do a Sonic Rainboom; but her heart still ached for the attention of one pink pony, and she just felt unimaginably lonely.

Her hot tears soaked the cloud bed and Dash wiped her eyes gently, knowing what she needed to do; she didn't want to feel this way ever again.

"Pinkie. I gotta know if she's okay."

She rose to her hooves and made her way to the door, a sudden determination settled itself in the pony's eyes; but she felt her chest twist when she looked down to the ground, and she sat at the entrance to calm her nerves. Dash wasn't supposed to feel this way…

"I can't be like this now. I've gotta find Pinkie."

She took off quickly, spreading her wings out and feeling the breeze running through them again. Dash soared through the skies towards Sugarcube Corner and started to fear the worst, hesitating as she approached the bakery.

"What if she's already gone? She… She can't do that without saying good-bye; she wouldn't."

Dash flew faster.

She had to get there and stop the pink mare from leaving; anyway she could, even if it meant telling her how she felt.

Landing heavily at the door she placed a hoof to it and pushed in. A bell announced her arrival, and soon after Mrs. Cake was at the counter; but her expression didn't sit well with Dash. She knew why she was angry, but she had no time to explain anything to the older mare.

"Hi… uh, I… I need to see Pinkie…"

"I don't think she wants to see you right now. Not after what she said happened."

This was one time when Dash hated that Pinkie talked about her so much; her heart sank and she tried to say something, but her words caught in her throat. Her mouth felt dry, and she shut her eyes tightly in frustration. It wasn't supposed to be this hard.

The ponies stood in silence for a moment. Neither of them making a sound, and Mrs. Cake seemed to wait for Dash to say something; make an argument and get her to listen. But before Dash could protest further…

"Who is it honey bun?"

A tall Earth pony trotted out from the back and stood next to Mrs. Cake, confusion to who the Pegasus in front of him was.

"This is the pony Pinkie was talking about. Rainbow Dash."

Her voice was soft; but it felt sharp in Dash's ears, her fur prickling in worry.

"I see. Dash I think you should leave; what you did to Pinkie… she's heartbroken you'd say such things to her..."

"I know…" Rainbow Dash interrupted, suddenly regaining her voice; but her throat knotted, and she closed her eyes struggling out softly, "that's why I need to talk to her… to… to apologize."

Mr. Cake shook his head sadly, "I don't think that's a good idea… she told us she didn't want to speak to anypony until the party."

"What? Why?" Why would she still be going to the party? Didn't she know Dash would be there too… or…?

The couple looked to one another in silence. Mrs. Cake nodded slightly and her husband turned back to Dash hesitantly, "… she's decided to leave after she's seen everypony… she said it was a 'farewell to Pinkie Pie' party…"

Dash's eyes grew in shock, and they shut tightly dropping her gaze to the floor. Her heart beat loud against her ribcage, but for some reason she suddenly felt relieved; like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders and the knot in her throat relaxed, "… no…" She whispered to the floor.

"What was that dear?" Mrs. Cake asked, leaning in closer.

Dash raised her head and ruffled her wings angrily, "… no… she can't do that. Not because of me… I should… ugh, I'm not gonna let that happen."

"Rainbow Dash, it's not your decision to make…" Mr. Cake said softly, no longer holding the anger he had before.

"I'm not letting her leave forever because of something I did." She shouted back, feeling a renewed resolve surge through her body and a warmth forming in her chest. Emotions flowed through her, causing her feathers to twitch anxiously; Dash let them relax against her sides and focused on the bakery owners.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake looked at each other, considering the Pegasus' words; and Dash stepped forward, raising her wings up impatiently.

"I have a plan… and it won't be easy; I can't do it by myself. I need your help… please."

She grumbled out that last word; she had never been good with asking for help, being so proud and strong. She never really needed any help, or never thought she did, getting everything on her own and never relying on anypony else to get something done, but something about this seemed different. Somepony else needed her help, and Rainbow Dash needed help from her as well.

The older ponies looked at Dash and heard the sincerity in her voice. They smiled kindly at the cyan mare and nodded their approval.

"Alright Rainbow Dash, what do you need?"

Rainbow Dash grinned at the older ponies trust in her.

She didn't want to lose that trust, depending on it for some unknown reason that she needed ponies to have faith in her judgement. She thanked them and told the couple to bake as many sweets as they could by that night.

Nodding in understanding, Mr. and Mrs. Cake made their way into the back after saying 'good-bye' and 'thank you' to Dash.

Rainbow Dash sped out of the sweets shop shortly after with a new plan in her mind. She didn't have much time for such a large scale plot and she knew it would be difficult with all the ponies seeing her so mean.

Dash needed to get more than just the Cakes helping her. She had to find the ponies she had seen hanging around Pinkie Pie, but she only had an idea of where each of them lived. She didn't pay much attention while flying when she had the pink mare lying on her back, even if she was the pony pointing out the houses. It was a bit distracting; but she decided to ask around about the residents in Ponyville, hoping to get some direction to where each pony lived.

She knocked on doors, trying to explain that what she had done was wrong and was trying to fix it; but the ponies would just shrug her off or shut the door on her. Dash kept trying all around town, but always ended up at the same result; heart pounding or ears ringing at the actions of the ponies.

So the day went on and Dash flew through the town asking ponies to help her with her idea, but they were all there at the party and knew what the cyan mare had done. Still it didn't stop Rainbow Dash from trying; if she could get through to one pony she could get to the rest and apologize for what she did.

On once such an occasion Rainbow flew into Roseluck's flower shop from the chimney, effectively skipping over the knocking politely thing she was getting nowhere with, and tried instead to tell her that she needed some special flowers for the party; but Rainbow Dash was swiftly bucked out of the store and the door slammed shut.

Lyra's house yielded the same result; being denied the ability to explain what happened and having to move on. She didn't even bother going to Rarity's boutique, knowing for a fact that she'd probably get a huge long lecture about romance and what not to do in it and didn't feel very up to that right then. So that left her with Fluttershy's cottage.

On the outskirts of Ponyville Dash landed softly at the door and knocked quickly; becoming more and more frustrated at not getting anypony to listen to her. Hopefully, she thought, she could get Fluttershy to turn everypony around and help her.

"Rainbow Dash?"

"Not now 'Shy, I'm trying to get Fluttershy to come to the door so I can ask her to help me with getting Pinkie Pie back… what the?"

Dash's eyes widened. She turned around to see the timid yellow mare flying just above her, with a confused look across her face, and she settled down again.

Rainbow Dash's shock quickly sank into relief at seeing the pegasus without an angry expression on her face; but she still didn't know quite what to say, not getting very far with the other ponies anyway.

"Uh… oh, there you are… listen… Pinkie's leaving tonight after the party you're throwing for us and I need your help…" Fluttershy's eyes widen at this.

The yellow mare landed on the dirt path in front of Rainbow Dash with her ears perked in shock, and Dash quickly continued. "nopony will listen to me about getting her back and I thought the one pony I could trust… was you…"

Fluttershy looked a bit shaken at first, but then she smiled softly at the cyan mare.

Rainbow Dash felt a surge of emotions wash through her when she saw the caring look always present on the timid pegasus' face, and shook her head vehemently.

"… I don't care if everypony hates me because of what I did; I just need Pinkie… to like me again… I can't be me anymore without her… and I just feel so alone without her being with me… after everything I've done to her, she's not the one that should be leaving."

Dash heaved a heavy sigh and sat on her haunches. She closed her eyes and remembered how Pinkie Pie had conceded defeat in a cupcake eating contest for her. She smiled a little and looked back at Fluttershy.

"… I heard what you said yesterday… you broke Pinkie's heart…" Dash looked away and clenched her teeth, "but Dash… if… if you're serious about this… then… you are going to need some help." Fluttershy smiled. That ever existing reassuring smile spread across her face when Rainbow Dash looked back up, disbelieving.

And Dash returned that expression gratefully.

"You're the best Fluttershy."

Fluttershy blushed slightly at the compliment and took off into the air softly, hovering just above the ground looking hesitant.

"Now, I know that you probably won't like this; but if you want everypony to forgive you… including Pinkie, then… we need to speak with Rarity."

"Uh…" Rainbow Dash began on impulse, holding up a hoof in protest; but she stopped herself from continuing. She slumped down further to the ground, "urgh… I guess… you're right; but you'll need to get her to listen to me… I didn't try her because I knew I wouldn't get through to her on my own."

"He he, yes, I don't think she'd listen to you for very long after last night… so, ready to go?"

Fluttershy flew a bit higher and glanced back to the seated pegasus, waiting patiently for her to respond… like always. Dash stood up and shrugged her shoulders.

"Ugh, not one bit."

The cyan mare spread her wings up quickly, and Rainbow Dash took off back to Ponyville with Fluttershy following closely behind; and when they reached Carousel Boutique, the yellow Pegasus told Dash to stay back a bit. A very good idea, Dash thought to herself.

Fluttershy knocked lightly on the door to the clothing shop, and soon after the purple-maned Unicorn opened her store to the timid mare.

"Why Fluttershy, what are you doing here? Is it our spa day today and I forgot?" Rarity asked, looking suddenly devastated; but Fluttershy shook her head gently.

"Oh no, nothing like that… it's just… well… remember at the party last night, and Pinkie crying…?"

Rarity nodded slowly, "Indeed. And I remember Rainbow Dash rushing off angrily because her Wonderbolts saw her with Pinkie… if she had stayed behind for a moment longer I would have–"

"I'm right here." Rainbow Dash interrupted, stepping forward to be seen by the unicorn.

Shock was present in the fashionesta's eyes for a moment, but she quickly turned it into a look of irritation when she said, "You have quite the nerve to show your face here again Rainbow Dash."

Fluttershy flew down to eye level with Rarity, eyes pleading and uncertain, "Please Rarity, she needs our help… your help…"

With a determination showing on Rainbow Dash's face, she stepped forward again, "Pinkie's leaving… and I can't let that happen… not from what I said to her, she doesn't deserve that."

"I don't think I can trust what you say after that performance… was it so hard to feel a little embarrassment in front of your heroes that you felt you had to yell at your best friend? The friend you say you love?" The white mare raised a questioning eyebrow at Dash.

"… please… Rarity… I'm asking you… I can't get anypony to listen to me without you and Fluttershy on my side and I need them so I can get Pinkie back. Just… give me a chance."

Dash's heart pounded against her chest and she felt her throat tighten, but her gaze never shifted from the unicorn's eyes as she said those words.

"… I must be out of my mind…" Rarity sighed after a moment of blankly staring at the cyan mare.

"You mean…?" Dash replied, raising her head hopefully.

Rarity smiled softly and nodded, "Yes… we will get your pink pony back; but you better not pull anything like that again… I'm not sure if MY heart can take it."

Fluttershy landed next to the white mare and looked across at her, "Great… so, um, Rarity… what do you think we need?"

Rarity placed a hoof under her chin. It reminded Dash of how Pinkie could concentrate on something so trivial as a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-pony… and how it always managed to bring a smile to her face.

"Hmm. Well, flowers are a nice touch… I know just the ones you need… a cake, good music, and lots of pink and blue… it'll be hard to stay mad at you after we have all that at the party."

Rainbow Dash nodded her understanding.

Dash took to the skies and stared down at the two ponies, looking suddenly impatient; maybe because she was just annoyed with them for taking so long to get to the point, or maybe since it had taken so long to convince Rarity to help her.

Or maybe it was to hide that weakness she had shown so grudgingly to the pegasus and unicorn earlier, with her strong attitude. That loneliness she wanted to forget.

Maybe.

"… well, we're not getting anywhere by standing here… I say we split up. Fluttershy will get the music and Rarity can get the flowers and the decorations…"

Fluttershy took to the skies as well, and looked worriedly at the cyan mare, "But Rainbow, what does that leave you with?"

"I believe she'll have to make the cake." Rarity offered softly.

Realisation struck the cyan mare, and her eyes widened, "Uh, what…?"

Rainbow Dash's heart raced a little, and she tried to brush it off as an expected ordeal; but the shake in her voice gave away her nervousness.

The white mare only smiled cleverly at Dash and shook her head, "Oh, no need to worry Rainbow Dash… I have an idea for that too."

_Blushing smiles and beautifully colored eyes were what they both saw; pink and blue colors blending into the shades of night. She looked away, down at the floor, and the other followed her gaze, lifting her round eyes back up to meet hers with a gentle hoof._

Rainbow Dash groaned as she neared Sweet Apple Acres. This wasn't what she had in mind for baking a cake, and it made her all the more uncomfortable.

"So, ya need mah help with makin' a cake do ya?" Applejack asked from beside her.

Dash groaned again, blowing the annoying strands of mane from her face.

"… ugh, this was a bad idea…"

Rainbow Dash flew into the air, trying to shake the boredom off from Rarity's super long lecture about romance; which she had to sit through and didn't really listen to because she was so bored, like she had so feared, with a good soar in the clouds.

It was a short flight, but it was a relief; it made her think of all the times Pinkie had been with her, pranking from on her back, talking to her in that nonsensical way only she could, and even the first time Rainbow Dash had given her a ride when she'd injured her wings.

Pinkie Pie had so quickly and easily offered to help her.

They entered the barn and made it into the kitchen, where everything was set up to start baking. "Well alrighty then… better get started… we don't have much time before the party tonight."

Dash grumbled along, a little less grumpy then before her short flight, and took her place among the ingredients spread across the counter top.

"… I shoulda asked to get the decorations, I can't bake… not without Pinkie…" Rainbow Dash started to get worried.

Last time she'd done this it had been with the pink mare and even when she left to help some other pony, Dash had only needed to learn how to ice some cupcakes. This was a whole cake that needed to be made; a huge task for anypony, but achievable. She was Rainbow Dash; she didn't get worried about anything… or scared. Maybe…

Rainbow felt a comforting hoof on her shoulder, and turned to see Applejack smiling confidently at her, "Well RD, you gotta prove yerself wrong fer you and fer Pinkie… and make her the best darn cake ya ever could make."

For Pinkie. Rainbow Dash's heart started beating louder against her ribcage; a feeling she had begun to accept whenever she thought of Pinkie, and she looked into Applejack's green eyes. Dash nodded lightly, and they got to work.

Thankfully Pinkie had already showed her how to bake cupcakes, so she knew a little about making full cakes; and Dash thanked Celestia she had listened to the pink pony's rambling during that instead of just watching her rump and tail wiggle back and forth.

And the frilly apron she wore during that, wait! Dash shook her head. She needed to focus; especially with such a hard teacher like Applejack giving her directions. She certainly wasn't as forgiving and understanding as Pinkie was… or as patient with her fail attempts.

"Now ya gone and burned 'em again. Ugh, Applebloom got the hang of it on her third try; what was this one now?"

A low grumble was her answer.

"Just… I'll start over okay?"

But Dash knew she was trying her best to help her; she still thought she could've eased up a bit, but when they had finished with the apple cupcakes Applejack decided they could move onto the center piece to the anti-farewell to Pinkie Pie party. A large, pink and blue icing red velvet cake.

Pinkie Pie's favorite cake, Rainbow Dash had been told once when she was flying with the pink mare, as they glided around Manehattan for another prank target.

Dash had asked to make the icing for the cake, and Applejack accepted that offer, considering the little experience the cyan pegasus had with making such elaborate treats; Rainbow Dash was a little surprised that the cowgirl mare had agreed she do that, but she didn't have any time to explain why.

Rainbow had too much on her mind right then to bother explaining to the orange pony that she was trying to impress Pinkie Pie with her cake decorating experience. She had learned it by herself, for the pink mare, and she wanted to show her how much she influenced her, and taught her; even if she didn't tell her she'd made the icing, she would still feel proud that she had done it for Pinkie.

Lonely. Something Dash hated to be, and something Pinkie also understood…

_They drifted closer, closer probably then they had ever been to one another, and the heat in their cheeks burning bright red; but soft smiles were present on their faces as well, smiles meant only for each other as their lips met. _

It was getting rather late, the party was almost to begin, and neither Rainbow Dash nor Applejack had said a word to each other since they started the cake. They didn't have to say much except when they needed something the other had or when Dash needed the cowgirl mare to explain something to her; which she would happily answer and return to work.

But they had finished. Just in time too. A three layered cake; complete with pink and blue strawberry and raspberry icing on top of the delicious looking red velvet recipe.

"Right then," Applejack spoke for the first time in a few hours of silence, "we should get this cake to the party. Don'tcha think Rainbow?"

"Uh, yeah… hey Applejack… thanks for all the help… for… everything really… if you hadn't sat down with me after the party, and just… talked to me, I don't think I'd be doing this right now…" Rainbow Dash was never good with thank yous, since she had hidden all her faults and problems behind her cocky attitude and high-flying skills; but Dash felt in this moment it was the most important thing she needed to do to show her appreciation. "You must have a ton of patience for ponies like me…"

Applejack chuckled in response and elbowed Rainbow Dash in the shoulder good-naturedly, "Nah, I'm just real good at hiding it… he he… nah come on… you ain't getting Pinkie back by just standing here chattin'."

"Right."

_Sugary and sweet and spicy._

All the guests had arrived at Sugarcube Corner, the Cakes having lent the shop out to Dash for this party, and they waited anxiously for the pink mare to come in and see them.

"Alright everypony," Rarity whispered to the crowd in front of her, with Rainbow Dash standing beside her nervously, "Do you all know the plan?"

Nods all around, and Rarity nodded back before facing the front door.

The others went suddenly about their business, talking and socializing with each other while Rarity waited in silence. Rainbow Dash thought that the mare must have noticed the anxious look on Dash's face because Rarity turned to reassure her that everything would be alright. Dash stood up straight and spread her wings out proudly, her eyes set on the open doors to the sugar shop.

Suddenly Fluttershy flew in and stopped in front of Rainbow Dash.

"She's coming."

"Thanks Fluttershy." The cyan mare placed a hoof on the timid pegasus' shoulder, and smiled brightly; getting a soft nod and a small smile from Fluttershy in return.

"Is… everything ready…?" Fluttershy asked, turning to Rarity for an answer.

"All of the decorations are up and Rainbow arrived with the cake a short while ago... I hope you're not as good with making cakes as you look."

Dash flared her wings at the insult and glared at the white mare. "H-Hey!"

Fluttershy started to giggle, but stifled them with a hoof.

Rarity raised a curious eyebrow at the flying pony, "What's the matter darling?"

The shy mare could only shake her head dismissively before landing carefully on the floor of the sweet's shop, and walk quietly inside.

All that came from Rainbow's mouth was an annoyed groan; but before she could speak again she saw Pinkie trotting in and rushed to the back where Applejack waited near the cake.

"She's here?" The orange pony asked.

A nod.

"You gotta do this RD. Gotta do it 'n' mean it…"

_For the shortest of moments, they held each other close, feeling their chests rise and fall and brush the other's fur gently as the pegasus and the earth pony kiss one another. Silence and bliss surrounded them and neither of them felt uncomfortable in that embrace._

"Why Pinkie Pie, you made it," Rarity's voice filled the store, "it just wouldn't be a party without the other mane guest being here."

Pinkie Pie bounced up to the unicorn, and stopped to look around at the other guests. She didn't see the guest she really wanted to talk to.

Pinkie looked back at Rarity, worry showing in her cyan eyes, "Well… where's Rainbow Dash…?" _Dashie… Dashie..._ She wanted to say, but her heart held her back. She didn't deserve to call her that anymore.

Not after everything she'd done.

She only deserved to be alone, but...

"Oh, well I believe Rainbow Dash has something she would like to give you actually… before you go that is."

"… uh… I…" The pink mare tilted her head to the side in confusion, and turned it to the back; seeing a cart being rolled out by an unseen pony.

"Go on. No goin' back now Rainbow Dash." Applejack whispered to the cyan pony; and she followed soon after as the other guests gathered around Dash to see what she had brought.

"But… But I…" Pinkie stuttered, unsure what to say to the cyan mare.

"H… Hey, Pinkie… I kinda… made this for you… I just… wanted to say… I'm sorry… for last night, and everything… I didn't mean to yell at you…"

Dash hated being sappy. Probably more than she hated losing, but then…

The look Pinkie was giving her right now…

Tears formed in the pink mare's beautiful cyan eyes; a soft smile across her face and her cheeks burning brightly, "… I…"

It was more than worth it to Dash.

She saw the look on Pinkie's face, and Dash felt her own cheeks heating up.

She looked down at the cake on the cart, words in blue icing:

'I'm sorry Pinkie' spelled across the top. It wasn't the best icing writing, but it made sense to Dash.

But all Pinkie could do was stare at Dash. Her mouth was dry; she felt a tingling in the pit of her stomach, and her heart beat fast against her ribcage.

"… who… who did this?" Pinkie squeaked out, but she knew the answer. She needed to hear it from the cyan mare herself though; just to be sure she meant it.

"It was all RD's idea to put all this up, and ah helped 'er some with the cake."

Rainbow Dash nodded and mumbled at the cowgirl mare's statement and at the strangely shy look on the pink earth pony's face, and Pinkie Pie's smile grew.

"Oh, that reminds me. Dash has something else to give you." Rarity winked, Pinkie Pie gasped in excitement, and Rainbow Dash winced.

"Uh… uhhh…" Dash looked up with a sigh, and met Pinkie's cyan eyes. She looked back down; feeling a knot form in her chest, and when she brought her head back up, she was blushing softly, "… I… kinda, got you these…"

Flowers. Bright yellow flowers in an outstretched cyan hoof to the pink mare.

"Dash…" Pinkie whispered.

The pegasus looked up into Pinkie's eyes again, seeing those same lidded eyes and small smile she had seen almost every day… only for her. She missed that a lot.

Rainbow Dash found herself smiling back, as Pinkie Pie wordlessly accepted the bouquet, sniffing them carefully and locking her gaze on them. A present from Rainbow Dash…

"Forget-me-nots," Rarity said, looking at the two blushing ponies happily, "It was my suggestion to Rainbow instead of roses. They're so… over done, and it has more of a meaning for when you go."

Pinkie Pie wasn't listening.

She was smiling, staring at Rainbow Dash, and she pulled the cyan mare closer; Pinkie wanted this moment to last forever. Pinkie drew her arms across Rainbow Dash's back in a gentle hug; a soft tender hug like the one yesterday; Pinkie Pie's favorite kind of hug.

Dash hadn't been expecting this; but whether or not it was something she enjoyed, and despite the voice in her head telling her to pull away, she found herself returning the embrace.

Pinkie Pie rested her head on Rainbow Dash's shoulder, pulling Dash's body flush with hers and started to rock back and forth as if she were dancing; Pinkie didn't want to let go of Dash anymore, but she knew she couldn't.

She couldn't do THIS anymore, and Pinkie still clung to her desperately. Not wanting to be left behind.

She felt tears in her eyes again, and she smiled.

Pinkie Pie buried her face in the cyan mare's neck, not knowing what else to do; feeling herself confessing to every secret she had ever known, including the most important one, in Dash's arms, and letting her tears fall.

"Thank you… Dashie." Pinkie whispered through the surge of emotions that she had built up for so long and kept to herself.

"… uh…" Dash felt Pinkie Pie tremble into the embrace; her tears soaking into Dash's cyan fur. Rainbow Dash tightened her grip on the pink mare, and shut her eyes. She felt her cheeks heat up again, and her wings tingled slightly at the contact. _She called me Dashie…_ She opened her eyes and smiled silently at Rarity.

Nodding back, the white mare shoed the other ponies away.

_Eventually the two parted. Not because they were uncomfortable and not because everypony was staring at them, but because they needed to come up for air. And when they did, their eyes met once more; and they smiled at each other in silence and in feeling their cheeks burning bright red in the light of the night sky._

The party quickly got underway; all the ponies having fun with the party games Dash had set up. They were all the games she had played with Pinkie five days ago, with a few… surprises inside some of them, courtesy of Rainbow Dash.

It was a wonderful gathering. Almost all of Ponyville it seemed had shown up, and the decorations hung down from the ceiling, the door, and any other place you could think of. Rarity had a knack for decor arrangement, Dash figured. Pink streamers and blue bows and even the cupcakes the Cakes had made were pink and blue.

The flowers from Roseluck's store were all around Sugarcube Corner; carnations and azaleas strewn about, brightening up the shop even more in the night.

Music of the lyre danced through the room. Rainbow would have to thank Fluttershy for getting Lyra to help out; for some reason the sounds seemed to calm her nerves. She felt more comfortable being there now.

Strangely so, until her eyes shifted to the pink mare sitting off to the side… by herself; sitting at a table with the flowers Rainbow Dash had given her in a vase, but still one was being held in her hoof tenderly.

Dash's wings twitched… and she ignored it, trotting over to Pinkie's table with an increased weight on her shoulders and a heat in her cheeks. She still has the flowers…

Rainbow Dash stopped a few hoof steps away from Pinkie, hesitant, and her chest hurt.

"… uh… hi."

"Oh… hi Dashie," Pinkie looked up from her flower and gazed into Dash's eyes; gorgeous and round magenta eyes, that made her heart flutter uncontrollably.

Pinkie Pie was smiling again, and it should have made Dash happy, that she was the pony to make her smile, but something was different about it… half-hearted… a fake, hollow grin and that broke Dash's heart.

Dash tilted her head away silently; she didn't want to see Pinkie smiling like that. Making herself smile despite what pain she must have felt all the time.

Being alone for so long.

Pinkie's smile dropped. She felt a pang in her heart at seeing the cyan mare look away so suddenly. Maybe it wasn't like what she had thought… and that should have made her happy… almost relieved… but…

She looked back at the flower she removed from the vase, and smiled weakly. Pinkie had always come to like flowers, but nopony had ever given her one or… even spoke to her.

Pinkie Pie was used to getting nothing in return… she never asked for anything… for all the happiness and cheer she tried so desperately to spread to everypony's heart; her always joyful bouncy attitude kept her going. And she hoped that she'd find somepony that would like her for who she was.

This was what Pinkie always wanted; to have somepony like her, and worry about her… to give her comfort when things became too much for her to manage on her own.

Pinkie Pie's parents had been all gloomy and grey and no fun, and so had she… until Pinkie saw that beautiful rainbow dancing across the sky, six different colors and all of them brighter than anything she had ever seen before. She just wanted to be happy after that. Bouncy and excitable, giggly and jumpy, and she wanted her parents and sisters to feel that way too.

The party had been a success, all of her family smiling and having fun. They told her that her gift was special… something to be shared with everypony, and she had agreed to leave… hesitantly at first. But they reassured her and hugged her and they told her to try living in Fillydelphia for a few weeks… but… when Pinkie went back to see them…

"… you know, you didn't have to do this." Pinkie Pie's voice echoed in Dash's head, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Rainbow Dash's ears perked. Dash turned her head back and looked into Pinkie's saddened cyan eyes.

"But I wanted to Pinkie… I don't want you to leave…"

Pinkie couldn't speak. Her throat dry and her heart beating too fast for her to keep up; she shook her head softly.

"I… I can't… it's only making it harder for me to…" Pinkie gasped softly. Dash placed a hoof over Pinkie's and sat on her haunches, looking calmly at the pink mare.

"Then please… don't… I don't… want you to leave me…"

Pinkie Pie swallowed thickly. She didn't know what to say and her tail shook madly; Dash seemed so vulnerable all of a sudden and she couldn't tell why. Why she couldn't bring herself to say anything, only managing to stare into Rainbow Dash's pleading eyes and wishing she could say that she would stay.

"Dance!"

Dash's eyes widened. She turned her head away from Pinkie and saw Rarity smiling back at her. She hadn't spoken to her about this. What the hay?

"Yeah, come on sugarcube."

Applejack too? Dash groaned inwardly at the white mare… _Why that little…_ Rarity waved a hoof in front of her, and Dash raised an eyebrow at her. Rainbow Dash turned around in confusion and felt her heart beat harder against her chest.

Then Dash saw something that she never thought possible on the pink mare's face. She actually seemed… embarrassed… _genius._

Pinkie Pie felt heat spreading in her chest and her cheeks, and she was smiling, staring down at the lone flower she had in her hoof.

Rainbow Dash gulped nervously and raised her hoof up to the pink pony, "P… Pinkie, do you want to…?"

Dash paused, and the pink pony didn't move. She thought of all the awkward moments she'd had with Pinkie Pie, and how she wanted to break the silence and tell her how she felt…

Rainbow Dash blinked. "Please Pinkie… just once… before you go?"

Pinkie raised her head slowly and stared into Dash's eyes.

Rainbow Dash's cheeks were burning, but she couldn't wipe the smile off her cyan face; holding out one hoof in front of the pink pony.

Just one chance to dance with the mare of her dreams.

"… _no I… I can't do this anymore… it isn't fair."_

She thought about this ever since she woke from that dream of baking with her pony… heart racing and mind wishing she could keep dreaming.

Wordlessly, Pinkie Pie held out her hoof and placed it over Dash's; shaking the pegasus from her reverie. Rainbow Dash glanced down at Pinkie's arm and up into her cyan eyes, and all she could think of was how incredibly beautiful Pinkie was in that moment.

The pink mare only smiled softly at Rainbow Dash, and she still managed to make everything brighter. She loved that about her; and she didn't want to forget anything about her.

Dash rose to her hooves and brought Pinkie Pie into the center of the room. It seemed so different now than it had before; Rainbow Dash felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and her eyes locked with Pinkie's.

They began to dance in the middle… hearing the music of the lyre and letting it carry them, feeling their hearts beat together.

Pinkie drew closer, slowly bringing her hooves around to rest on Rainbow Dash's back. Pinkie Pie looked at her hooves for a moment, not believing that she could finally do this for real; only being able to dream of such an embrace with the cyan mare until tonight.

Pinkie Pie tightened her grip on the pegasus; she was so close to Dash, feeling her tummy brush against the cyan mare's and she rested her head on Rainbow's shoulder.

Rainbow Dash blushed furiously at what the pony in her arms was doing, but she ignored the heat in her cheeks and closed her eyes softly; only smiling and feeling the pink pony's heart beating gently against her chest. She lowered her head and rested it on top of Pinkie Pie's mane…

It had no discernible smell to it; but to Dash it was the sweetest smell in Equestria… cotton candy and chocolate was an understatement.

The cyan mare ran her hooves over Pinkie's back, wanting to know this moment was truly happening and wasn't another dream; feeling her hooves tingle as she relaxed into the embrace.

Pinkie Pie gasped at Dash's touch and melted into the cyan arms wrapping around her, arms holding her close; she moaned her approval and felt Dash run her hooves down her body to her rump, sighing softly into Rainbow Dash's mane.

"You're a great dancer Dashie." Pinkie whispered throatily into Rainbow Dash's ear, pulling the pegasus closer and moving her hooves up to massage her wings carefully.

Rainbow Dash gulped heavily, feeling her wings stiffen. She lifted her head up and put her head into the crook of Pinkie's neck, rubbing the pink mare's back absentmindedly now.

"I'm only happy when I have you with me, you know."

They brought their heads away, finally; and their eyes met. Rainbow Dash wanted to tell Pinkie that she was a good dancer too, thank her at least for everything she'd done for her; but she could only look into Pinkie's bright cyan eyes. She was locked in them and Dash never wanted to look away again; wanting to stay in this embrace forever.

Pinkie Pie was smiling. Smiling at Dash, and leaning safely against her chest… at those eleven words that meant so much to her; and all she could do was think of how breathtakingly beautiful Rainbow Dash always was.

Nopony spoke, the only sounds entering their ears was the sweet music of the lyre; but Rainbow Dash still felt Pinkie's hooves at the base of her wings. They tingled under the softness of her massage, spreading out and she felt herself flush.

_Kiss her! Kiss her!_

Dash's heart pounded against her ribcage; and she leaned in closer. She felt Pinkie's chest brush against hers as her breathing quickened, soft and warm; and Rainbow Dash tightened her grip on the pink mare, afraid that she would lose her if she ever let go.

Dash was so close, not thinking of anything but the mare in her hooves, and kissed her.

It only lasted for a moment… and when it was over, and they separated, they still held one another; and suddenly, Pinkie Pie kissed her back.

Eyes drifted shut, and Rainbow Dash melted into the soft kiss.

Desperate hooves pulled her close, close enough that their tails were touching and tangling into one another; and Dash found herself returning the kiss, wrapping her arms completely around the pink mare's back. Rainbow Dash never thought Pinkie Pie would be capable of such a loving touch or such a small shy show of affection, but she didn't care… for a moment nothing else existed…

Nothing mattered but the pony in her arms.

Pinkie separated from Dash suddenly and immediately realised what she was doing, flushing wildly at her actions. She shook her head and staggered back towards the front door.

This was not what she was expecting. Not what she wanted and at the same time wished so much for.

Coming to this party and saying good-bye properly was supposed to make it easier to leave; and apologizing to Rainbow Dash would give her some comfort, not make her even more confused and scared of what might happen if…

"N-No… I… can't do this… it isn't fair."

Tears poured from her eyes and she closed them in a panic; running for the exit, and leaving Rainbow Dash in a daze. Pinkie rushed easily through the crowds of ponies, looking on at what had just happened.

Her heart was breaking and her tears were falling like raindrops, and all she could think to do was run.

When Dash snapped out of her stupor she looked up at the door; and she shook her head. "Not this time… not again."

Rainbow Dash launched herself forward; into the crowds of speechless ponies and made her way outside. She gazed intently around the town and caught sight of the pink mare running into the Everfree Forest.

"Pinkie!"

Wings spread out beside her; her magenta eyes focused on the place where Pinkie Pie entered, and she shot into the dense foliage.

She brushed through branches and bushes, being cut by the sharp needles on some of the trees; but she didn't stop. She couldn't. She had sustained much worse in the past, being raised by such a violent family had some advantages; the ability to handle and ignore pain was one of them.

Rainbow Dash saw her running on ahead and zoomed forward, following as Pinkie Pie dodged the trunks of the trees and speeding on; almost zigzagging in between them, like she was making a game out of it.

Pinkie Pie was panicking, her Pinkie-sense taking over as she moved around the trees and rocks and bushes in front of her. Tears still fell from her eyes, but she had closed them back when she started running; they wouldn't be much help anyway with her clouded mind preventing her from thinking clearly.

Pinkie just kept running, afraid to look back and see the cyan mare still right behind her. She knew she was there, but if she looked back only once and saw her there above her, she knew she would freeze or fall or something and Rainbow Dash would catch her.

She had no real idea why she was running, but it was all she could think to do, to get rid of the feelings she felt in that moment back in Sugarcube Corner. She never should have come to the party; never left the shop when the Cakes had given her an errand to take care of. Now she was scared of being caught by the only pony ever to like her for her excitable nature, scared of what the cyan mare would do to her if she ever managed to grab her.

Pinkie wanted to be alone… she had never wanted that before, but now…

Right now she only wanted…

She stopped; she still had her eyes shut tight, tears hitting the ground silently as she opened them and turned her head around. Pinkie heard no branches being hit or the sound of the wind being torn by cyan wings. For some reason she couldn't bring herself to keep going. Running away from everything again, and she faced nothing. She had outrun Dash in the forest and there was no sign that she was still looking; she might have given up already... just like every other pony. She felt like her heart had stopped beating.

Pinkie Pie wanted to be happy about this. She was finally by herself; but she only felt terrible for abandoning her bestest best friend. She had exploited the pegasus' weakness in the woods to get away, and she was a horrible pony for it and deserved to be alone for being such a terrible friend. She didn't deserve to be comforted for what she had done; especially by the pony whose life she had ruined…

Dash had landed on the forest floor. She felt a knot in her throat, and her heart still beat heavily in her ribcage; sending a wave of adrenaline through her system and increasing her hearing and sight.

Her ears perked suddenly. Somepony was crying. Not somepony; her pony, and Rainbow Dash turned her head to where she had heard the sad sniffling.

Her magenta eyes met with a cliff on the side of Everfree Mountain. Her wings spread wide again and she lifted herself quickly up to land at the tip of the rock. Quietly she stepped forward and saw the pink mare.

Pinkie Pie had sat her rump down in the middle of the stone, letting her tears fall and sniffing miserably. She just looked so lonely and broken…

Lonely… broken… like her.

Rainbow Dash saw her look up… into the night sky and sniff back her tears, "… Mom? I… I'm sorry you had to leave… sorry you had to go… because–… if I could go back I would've…"

More sobs; stretched and held back by the pink mare as she cried into the floor.

Pinkie's words were like daggers; piercing Dash's heart and bringing tears to her eyes. "… Pinkie…"

Pinkie Pie turned her head and her stomach knotted itself, "Dashie! …no please… don't. Just let me go." Even in desperation to be captured, Pinkie still couldn't bring herself to accept the pegasus' help… _please Dashie… don't leave me here all alone…_

The cyan mare felt a pang in her heart, but she ignored it and shook her head. "I'm not leaving Pinkie Pie." … y_ou need this as much as I do, Pinkie…_

Rainbow Dash walked forward confidently, locking her gorgeous eyes with Pinkie Pie's as the pink pony's tears poured down her face; and Pinkie wiggled back in fear.

"No… please, I–"

Dash wrapped her hooves around Pinkie carefully, and rested her head on her shoulders once more. Pinkie stifled her sobs and tried to wriggle out of the cyan mare's grasp, but Rainbow Dash pulled her flush against her chest with strong arms.

A surge of emotions washed over Pinkie, reducing her to heart-wrenching sobs. Pinkie's eyes shut tightly and she wrapped her arms tightly around Dash; she couldn't stand it any longer… feeling so alone and frightened.

She clung to the pegasus desperately and poured out all the apologies and secrets she had to the cyan mare in one long breath filled with heart-wrenching tears. How she was afraid she would never see her again and how horrible she had been to her...

Rainbow Dash held her close and whispered softly into the earth pony's ears that everything would be fine, letting Pinkie Pie spill out all the loneliness and regret she felt inside her; only pulling Pinkie closer when her sobs became too much for the pink pony to manage one her own.

Only when the pony had settled down and her tears had run dry did Rainbow relax her grip on Pinkie, and she brushed her cheek against Pinkie's trying to calm her.

"I… I'm s-so sorry… Dashie." Pinkie Pie whimpered out between dry sobs. She buried her face in the cyan mare's mane and continued to cry gently.

Dash shook her head and brushed her cheek against Pinkie's more, not knowing what else to do, "… it's not your fault Pinkie… I'm the pony who should be sorry. I… I shouldn't have kissed you, I just…"

"… no Dashie… that wasn't the reason…" Pinkie sniffled a few times, and brought her hooves up and around the pegasus' neck shakily, looking shyly into Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes as her smile brightened a bit, "… I liked that… a lot."

"You, uh…" Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie's hooves nervously and then back into her cyan eyes, blushing furiously.

"I, um… was talking about last night…" Pinkie explained, feeling her own cheeks burning and letting her eyes drift to the side a little.

"… oh…" Dash's heart relaxed a bit and she rubbed the pink mare's back reassuringly, trying to get her to settle her own nerves.

Pinkie's smile wavered and she lay her head on Rainbow Dash's shoulder sadly. "… I'm sorry about last night… I'm sorry that I ruined your chance… to be with your heroes."

"It… It wasn't your fault Pinkie… I don't blame you for that, I never did." And that was the truth, Dash realised. She had never been angry with the earth pony to begin with, it was just the shock of meeting her heroes for the first time and the embarrassment of being seen with the bouncy pink mare that had caused her to shout; and now she regretted ever going.

Pinkie tightened her grip on Rainbow Dash, sniffling miserably.

Dash felt her tears soak into her cyan coat and began stroking Pinkie Pie's mane, trying to calm the distraught mare. "Pinkie, you know I don't… so… why… why did you run away? Why did you tell the Cakes that you were leaving?"

The pink mare pulled the pegasus tighter in her grasp and clenched her jaw, leaning her head down and sobbing into Rainbow Dash's neck and shoulder.

"… that night with the Wonderbolts… I didn't want you to leave… not without a good-bye… not without me saying…" New tears welled up in her round eyes, and she blinked them away.

"… what? I don't…"

Pinkie pushed herself away from Dash's chest so she could see her tear-filled face. She needed to do this right and she needed to tell Rainbow Dash everything to her face; she couldn't run away anymore.

Pinkie clenched her teeth, and remembered the day she returned to her family's rock farm. "I… heard what you said last night… before the party, what you said about me…"

Dash's felt her chest twist at hearing how suddenly calm Pinkie Pie was; she should have learned to expect such radical changes in the pink pony's mood, but this came as a huge shock all the same.

"Pinkie–"

"You wanted to forget me… and all the feelings I brought up in you… without you wanting them…" Pinkie gulped and held her hooves up to touch Dash's, feeling her heart flutter inside her ribcage at the contact, "I decided I'd tell you how I felt about you at the Wonderbolts… how I really felt all this time, all nervous and tingly hooved…"

Dash looked down at her hooves in surprise and returned her gaze to Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash saw that same confusing hurt filled smile she had secretly possessed until she showed it to the cyan mare.

"… I was the pony who made you so unhappy so I wanted to make things better; but… but then I… heard two ponies talking… saying how the Wonderbolts came to see the pony that made the first ever sonic rainboom and that they might make her a member on the team…"

Pinkie grinned at the pegasus and felt her tail tingle again, but she ignored the feeling… she knew which pony was falling, and who for… "I just… knew it was you Dashie… you were who they were talking about… the pony that let me smile before I even knew you."

Rainbow Dash's blush intensified, locking her eyes with Pinkie's gorgeous cyan eyes as she listened to her. "H-how do you know I was the one that made the sonic rainboom?"

Pinkie's blood boiled and she felt her chest knotting, wanting to keep going; and Pinkie Pie swallowed, feeling her face burn. "I knew a long time ago… that day… back when I was a filly… whenever you were with me, I just felt like back then all the time… I just wanted to hug you and to thank you for cheering me up… to kiss you for every happy feeling you gave me."

"K-kiss… me? … uh…" Rainbow Dash's heart was pounding and she could feel it in her hooves that seemed to belong to Pinkie now, and Dash just stood there dumbly.

Pinkie shook her head and her smile weakened, but its meaning was clear to Dash. Pinkie Pie was actually… embarrassed. "N-never mind, it was silly to think like that… so after… I was scared… I was coming to tell you how much you meant to me and then, when I found out… I was sure you were going to leave with them.

Pinkie pulled her hooves away from Rainbow Dash's and put her arms in between her hind legs shyly, sitting back to see Dash better.

"I got so jealous that you paid so much attention to the Wonderbolts and not me, even when we were pranking, you'd talk about them and I'd get mad at you… mad that you didn't talk about me… I'd get angry at myself for getting mad at you and I'd try harder to get your attention."

Dash shook her head free of what Pinkie Pie was saying and huffed unbelievingly. "What about all those ponies you were helping? You seemed quite happy to ignore me and spend time with them instead."

Pinkie Pie looked down at the ground in silence and felt a pang in the pit of her stomach at the cyan mare's words.

"…"

Dash drew closer again, and tried to gaze into Pinkie's eyes to hear her answer. "… so then why did you say you could hang out with me when you had so many plans that day?"

Pinkie Pie looked up, with her round cyan eyes, at Dash and felt her face heat up again. "I wanted yesterday to be special, so we could plan what we did at the party and make it the best party ever…"

Pinkie Pie paused to chuckle softly at her silly idea and move closer to the pegasus mare, feeling more and more comfortable with her company and that she was finally listening to her… at least a little.

"I had already said I would help Applejack with apple-bucking in the evening and I told Daisy I would help collecting the flowers for the Wonderbolts… and I told them I wanted to spend that whole time in between with you, but… everypony else kept dragging me away from you…"

Pinkie's eyes dropped to stare at the floor and Rainbow Dash thought she saw her lower lip trembling, but then Dash remembered something that day that worried her; and she looked away suddenly.

"W-Well, you coulda fooled me. I even saw you with Cloudkicker, watching her train for… well, for something." Dash couldn't think of what it was… and maybe that's why it annoyed her.

Bringing her head and pink mane back up to Dash level, Pinkie chuckled pleasantly.

"Train? Dashie I was trying to help her run away from an angry group of bees. My nose was itchy and I saw her flying around, so I told her she should take cover, but she didn't listen… it takes ponies about three Pinkie-senses for them to trust me on what I say… four if you're as stubborn as Applejack…"

"…"

"…"

"Keep going."

Pinkie shuffled her hooves together, trying to pick up where she'd left off… she didn't want to miss anything and regret it later. "O-oh, well… when I heard about you being the reason for the Wonderbolts coming, I actually felt a little happy at first."

"Why?" Dash asked, raising a curious eyebrow at the mare and tilting her head to the side questioningly.

Pinkie only smiled back at her and nuzzled Rainbow Dash softly, feeling the warmth in her cheeks. "… all that stuff I did… picking flowers with Daisy, bucking apples with Applejack, and anything I could think related to that… was to get you to notice me…"

"…"

"I wanted you to know I could take things seriously and not just… be silly and crazy and happy about everything all the time." Pinkie Pie looked down at the floor and swallowed softly; Rainbow Dash only looked at her in shock. Pinkie wanted to be taken seriously… by her?

"I, ugh…" Dash pulled Pinkie Pie in for another long hug, and she nuzzled the earth pony's cheek with her own. "… I'm sorry Pinkie… if I didn't take you seriously, I didn't mean to…"

Pinkie Pie returned the embrace and rested her head on Rainbow Dash's shoulder, letting her tail tangle up in the pegasus'. "I know Dashie."

Rainbow Dash blushed at how warm the pink mare's body was, rubbing against hers and gulped softly.

"I actually… said all that to get your attention Pinks…"

Pinkie pulled away and looked giddily into the cyan mare's magenta eyes, feeling her smile returning immediately. "... you were trying to impress me?"

Dash scratched the back of her mane nervously, and felt her wings twitch slightly.

"… uh, well I wanted to show you how awesome I was at flying… you always seemed more happy when you were flying with me, so I'd brag a bit at the Wonderbolts' technique and then show off how I would do it."

Pinkie looked at Rainbow Dash quizzically and wiggled closer to be brushing up against the cyan mare, smiling sweetly. "Dashie you always impress me… you're always so nice and kind and cute and sweet–"

"H-hey! I am not cute." Rainbow Dash tried to sound angry and annoyed, but the blush and the small smile spreading across her face betrayed her.

"Yes you are." Pinkie teased with a wide grin on her muzzle.

"No way! Y-you're the cute one, adorable really." Dash froze and tried to say something more, but her voice caught in her throat and she only felt her wings tense up around the pink mare's back.

"Oh thanks Dashie, but I always thought you were cute and cuddly." Pinkie pulled Dash into a tight hug and rubbed her hooves over Rainbow Dash's back gently.

"Pinkie! I am not cuuute!" Dash yelled absentmindedly, feeling the earth mare leaning against her; her wings were so stiff they almost hurt, but she didn't move away or break the hug.

Pinkie Pie just giggled at the mare's frustration and embarrassment, and Dash couldn't hold back a smirk of her own anymore. Pinkie had that effect on you; but that didn't mean Rainbow Dash couldn't still try to look angry about it though.

"Just… keep talking." Dash responded grumpily.

Pinkie giggled again and nodded, she grew quiet for a while and just stared at her hooves around Dash, "… so that night when you actually came to get me, I was happy… it felt like you had forgiven me and chose me over the Wonderbolts... and when you said how pretty I looked in my dress… I…"

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both blushed lightly and smiled at each other through their beautiful eyes; but Pinkie's smile faded into that hidden unhappy expression that Dash hated.

"… but when we got close I started to feel scared… like this was a game and I was losing you to somepony else… I… I tried so hard to tell you how I felt about you in the closet, to make you listen to me, but you yelled at me for ruining your dream and tried to get to the Wonderbolts. That's when I knew what I had done was so wrong… I ruined your chance to live your dream and be happy… I never wanted to feel that way again… I really truly sincerely tried to help you find them and join them; but… then the vent collapsed and we fell on each other…"

Pinkie started to shake suddenly, in the pony's arms and Dash pulled her closer, letting her emotions pour out freely.

"I wish I could have taken it back, maybe left before all that and you might've had a chance to be with them…" Pinkie sobbed into Dash's shoulder, and she remembered what her mom had said to her, "I really didn't want to do this again Dashie! I'm so sorry…"

"Pinkie it's okay. Settle down… what do you mean again?"

Pinkie didn't speak. She couldn't. She'd said too much already and now Dash was sure to hate her; but the pink mare gasped and felt her fur brush up against Rainbow Dash's once more, her hooves cradling her in a soft embrace.

"… please Pinkie, I gotta know."

Pinkie sniffled a bit and wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash's neck. "… m-my first ever party was a huge success… I cheered my whole family up and made them smile. They still farmed rocks after, but they spent that time having fun and being super nice… my parents said I should make more ponies smile like them; and I was so glad… I had found my special talent and made my family proud of me… but when I left I couldn't cheer anypony else up… they would always ignore me and tell me to leave them alone, and I started to feel scared… I just wanted to go back and be happy with my mom and my dad and my sisters…" Pinkie Pie gulped and tensed up in Dash's arms. "… it had only been a few months, but when I got there, I…"

Dash heard Pinkie Pie's voice tremble and the snivels of the pink mare, "… Pinkie?"

Pinkie pulled Dash's body flush with hers and cried thickly into the nap of her neck, feeling her chest burning with anxiety. "My mom was sick." Pinkie Pie forced out through her sobs.

Rainbow Dash's heart flew up into her throat and she clenched her teeth as if in pain; she didn't know what to do. Carefully, she wrapped her wings around the pink mare's body and stayed silent, letting Pinkie Pie continue when she was ready.

"… she looked so sad…" Pinkie struggled out suddenly, and she felt her stomach flutter wildly; she had never told anypony this before, she'd never wanted to until now… with Dash. "… my dad said I made her sick, because I was the one that through that party months back and she got so excited she–… but my mom just shook her head and said it was nopony's fault… sh-she hugged me for so long… just letting me cry and whispering to me that everything would be alright…"

"…"

"… I never got to say good-bye… I fell asleep in her arms and when I woke up…" Pinkie couldn't hold it in any longer. Her bottled up sadness and regret came pouring out of her, and surged through her hooves and into the embrace she was sharing with Rainbow Dash.

Dash felt like her heart had stopped beating. How could Pinkie… Why would her parents…? But the two ponies just sat there in each other's arms and said nothing.

"I know what that's like Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said once Pinkie's tears had run dry on her cheeks, "my parents would always punish me if I didn't do something right… if I failed they'd yell at me and beat me…"

As Rainbow Dash spoke, Pinkie Pie sat in silence; being so unbelievably quiet and patient with Dash even after she had let all her emotions rush out of her at once. She just sat on her haunches and occasionally sniffed back her tears, waiting for the cyan mare to finish.

"… they ALWAYS seemed to hate me… they were never proud of me or ever let me know they appreciated me… I ran away as soon as I was old enough with what I had and got into Cloudsdale's flight school… and I could finally relax, but I just felt so alone…" Dash swallowed back her tears and sighed shakily.

"… my parents didn't care about me and never tried to look. And even then everypony teased me for having no parents and for not being Miss Perfect Flyer all the time. I hid all that fear and pain behind being the best I could be, so they would stop annoying me… I didn't have much time for friends… they wouldn't care, except Fluttershy… she was the only other pony I talked to… she helped me through a lot, so I just didn't tell anypony about all that… it wasn't their problem and I told myself I would handle it on my own… I could manage all those feelings by myself… I know what it feels like to feel so empty and lonely."

"Please don't go Dashie… don't leave… when I was packing to leave Ponyville, to stop myself from holding you back… I found something, something super special to you… and to me. The only reason I stayed and came to the party… was to see you one more time and give you this…"

Pinkie held out the sheet of paper with the drawing Dash had made as a filly; and the pegasus took it wordlessly, staring at it and wondering how the pink mare must have got it.

"… I found it on the floor of the house back in Manehattan… it must've fallen out when I was packing and I didn't have much time to think about what to do, you were right there with me so I stuffed it in one of the bags quickly. I must have… put it in mine by mistake…"

Pinkie Pie gulped at the lost expression on Dash's face and tried to continue, "I really wanted to give it back, but… but I couldn't, not with all the ponies' eyes on you and how sad you looked from missing the Wonderbolts. I'm sorry… just… just please don't go… I'm sorry." Pinkie looked down at the floor and let her tears fall onto the rocks.

"Pinkie, I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere!" Dash replied, covering the pink pony's back with her wings, making Pinkie Pie look back up at the cyan mare in surprise.

"… you're not?" Pinkie Pie asked with her ears perked, wiping away her hot tears and looking hopefully into Rainbow Dash's eyes.

"No! And even if I did…" Rainbow Dash hugged Pinkie again, pulling her tightly against her with her wings and resting her head in Pinkie Pie's curly mane. It still smelled indescribably beautiful, just like the first time and all Dash could do was smile. "I'd take you with me…"

"… Dashie…"

"… you, um… said you wanted to… kiss… me?"

Pinkie's cheeks flushed and her heart bounced into her throat. "… uh, well… maybe, just… a little."

Rainbow Dash smiled with her wings tightly wrapped around Pinkie and a blush covering her face; and Dash leaned in and locked her lips with Pinkie's.

They sat there, on the top of the cliff, pressed against one another desperately with their legs wrapped around them. Pinkie was a little surprised at first that Dash had kissed her, but her cyan eyes drifted shut and she kissed back; relief overflowing her that Rainbow Dash was holding her so close and cherished her so much.

Dash leaned in and deepened the kiss, feeling her body shake with pleasure from finally being able to hold the pink mare in such a loving embrace. She didn't think Pinkie felt this way about her, thinking that she was just really cuddly and affectionate all the time; she ran her hooves over Pinkie Pie's back, wanting to know every inch of the earth pony.

Pinkie melted instantly into the cyan mare's touch and moaned her approval, letting her body relax into the pegasus' hooves. Pinkie Pie flicked her wet tongue around in the cyan mare's mouth, lowering her arms to Dash's flank and rubbing her cutie-marks absentmindedly.

Rainbow Dash stifled a gasp and moaned into Pinkie's mouth, returning the passionate kiss earnestly and feeling her wings stiffen and spread open; Pinkie Pie just giggled at the pegasus' obvious excitement and licked Dash's tongue as she pulled the pink pony flush with her body and pushed her to the ground, lying down on top of Pinkie and rubbing her flank.

Pinkie moaned and pulled the mare closer to rest flush against her stomach and grinded her crotch against Rainbow Dash's, earning a shocked gasp from the cyan mare; and Pinkie Pie broke the kiss to look into her worried magenta eyes.

"Don't worry Dashie… I won't do anything you don't want me to." Pinkie smiled sweetly and moved her hooves up, to stroke Rainbow Dash's tensed up wings, feeling the muscles relax under her massage.

But Rainbow Dash shook her head and lowered her head down to kiss Pinkie's neck softly, making the pink mare moan as she felt a shock of pleasure through her; she giggled and squirmed slightly into the kisses and Rainbow Dash smiled in amusement.

Dash lowered herself down Pinkie Pie's body, kissing and licking intently at her chest and stomach, getting further moans of approval from the earth pony. All of Pinkie seemed to have a different taste to it, all of them sugary and sweet and not quite what Dash was expecting; but she didn't care, Pinkie was hers at last.

Dash placed her hooves over Pinkie's rump and licked softly at her clit; and her ears perked at the gasp from Pinkie as she arched her back slightly, feeling a wetness and her heart pounding in her chest for more.

Dash circled her tongue around Pinkie opening and licking softly at her hind legs, before she plunged her hot wet tongue into Pinkie's opening and licked at her vagina. Rainbow Dash rubbed Pinkie's sides and rump absentmindedly as she focussed on the pleasurable moans from the pink mare under her.

Pinkie groaned loudly and brushed her hooves down her chest and stomach and grasped the cyan mare's ears tightly, arching her back more. Pinkie panted heavily, feeling the pressure in her building up and her heart beat quickening. "Oooh Dashie, don't stop! I'm… ah… I'm about to… hnn…"

Dash groaned and felt a wave of adrenaline rush through her body, heating her up, and she licked faster, swallowing the juices inside the pink mare's vagina. Pinkie pulled harder on Rainbow Dash's ears and felt her entire body tense up. She arched her back again as she came, "D-Dashie!"

Pinkie let her back fall back onto the ground and she panted softly, and in ecstasy now that she had Dashie all to herself.

Rainbow Dash licked up the juices greedily and looked up at the earth pony, and her wings tensed up again. Pinkie looked up intently at Dash, with an almost predatory smile as she said, "It's your turn Dashie."

Pinkie wrapped her arms around the pegasus and rolled her over and onto her stomach so she could lie on top of her carefully. She still panted slightly, feeling her soaking wetness leaking onto Dash's coat.

Pinkie started to rub at the base of Rainbow Dash's erect wings, feeling them tense up under her touch; and she ran her hooves along Dash's strong muscles as she stroked them more quickly, feeling Dash tremble in excitement.

A shock of pleasure shot through the cyan mare and she started to pant wildly, letting a moan escape her lips before she could stifle it. Pinkie giggled and continued her tender massage, sliding her tongue along the tips of her wings; and Dash's eyes fluttered shut. "Pinkie… mmm…"

Rainbow groaned softly and rubbed her crotch against Pinkie's gently, wanting to feel like the pink earth mare had and getting approving groans from Pinkie Pie in response. She opened her eyes and locked them with Pinkie's beautiful cyan eyes as they stared at one another, both mares panting in ecstasy and bliss.

Pinkie lowered her head down, shut her cyan eyes, and kissed the cyan mare on the lips deeply, stifling the moan from Dash's mouth and continuing the massage on the tips of the pegasus' cyan wings.

Dash kissed her back passionately and closed her eyes again. Rainbow Dash wrapped her hooves around the pink pony's back, pulling her closer and rubbing Pinkie Pie's back intently.

Pinkie moaned approvingly into the cyan mare's mouth and broke the kiss slowly, bringing her hooves to rest on Dash's chest; feeling her heart beating quickly and her chest rising and falling rapidly.

Pinkie Pie peppered Dash with kisses along the nape of her neck and on her collar bone as she lowered down to lick at Dash's wetness.

Rainbow Dash moaned and arched her back in pleasure, feeling Pinkie's wet tongue against her clit. Pinkie licked and kissed playful at Dash's legs, getting a surprised gasp from the cyan mare, before she pushed her tongue in and rolled it around Rainbow Dash's vagina; massaging the opening softly.

Rainbow Dash grasped Pinkie's ears with her fore-legs quickly and stifled a moan, preventing the pink mare from teasing her and feeling her wings tingle and tense up in pain.

Pinkie just giggled and lapped up the juices inside Dash's opening and massaged her vagina until it tensed up around her tongue. Dash screamed, arching her back in pure ecstasy, before letting her body drop back. "Pinkie!"

Dash relaxed against the dirt and rock scattered around the cliff and began panting for air as Pinkie licked the juices quickly and happily.

Pinkie got up shakily and lied down carefully on top of Dash, resting her head on Rainbow's chest peacefully. She sighed. "I love you Dashie."

"I love you too Pinkie." Rainbow Dash drew her arms around the pink mare's back and nuzzled her cheek lovingly. Dash sighed and Pinkie kissed her cheek before resting her head on her chest again.

The two ponies fell asleep there, in each other's hooves as they heard the other's heart beating rapidly out of their chests.


End file.
